Where former LSU head coaches went after leaving Baton Rouge

LSU football has hired 33 head coaches since the program’s inception in 1893, most recently Brian Kelly in 2021.

For much of that span, LSU has been a destination job. It’s a place coaches know they can win a title. You don’t leave Baton Rouge unless you’re fired, pushed out or the NFL comes calling.

It wasn’t always that way. There have been cases where an LSU head coach took a job elsewhere.

Here, we’ll be looking at where head coaches went after they left LSU. From the first coach in LSU history up to Ed Orgeron.

Here’s where former LSU head coaches went after leaving LSU.

Allen Jeardeau

Jeardeau took over LSU in 1896. He was the coach for two years and went 7-1. In 1898, he left LSU to return to his alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Dan A. Killian

Killian coached LSU from 1904-06. He was 8-6-2 in his time, but that included a 3-0 record in 1905. Killian left LSU to join the news industry following his tenure in Baton Rouge.

Edgar Wingard

Wingard led LSU to a 10-0 record in 1908, but that was his final season in Baton Rouge. Wingard left and ended up leading the University of Maine. Outside of his two years at LSU, his entire career was spent coaching in the north.

Pat Dwyer

Dwyer led LSU for three years, including a 6-1-2 record in his final year in 1913.

After leaving LSU, he didn’t coach for 10 years, but eventually returned as the head coach of Toledo in 1923. He won a conference title in his first year with the Rockets.

E.T. MacDonnell

MacDonnell was at LSU for 2 1/2 years. Despite success in 1915 and 1916, he didn’t finish the 1916 season. The next year, MacDonnell was at Wake Forest, where he went 1-6-1.

Dana X. Bible

Bible finished the 1916 season for LSU, coaching just three games.

Following his stint in Baton Rouge, he took the head coaching job at Texas A&M. Bible went on to win 72 games in College Station and later made stops at Nebraska and Texas, winning 198 games in his career.

Branch Bocock

Bocock went 11-4-2 at LSU in 1920 and 1921. He left LSU after that and was out of coaching for a few years. He later appeared for a stint at South Carolina, followed by a stint at William and Mary.

Mike Donahue

Donahue coached at LSU for five years and compiled a 23-19-3 record. He left to serve as the athletic director at Spring Hill College. He later returned to LSU to coach the tennis and golf teams.

Russ Cohen

Cohen went 23-13-1 at LSU over four years.

Following a 5-4 campaign, Cohen took a job as an assistant on Vanderbilt’s staff. A few years later, he received another head coaching opportunity, this time at the University of Cincinnati.

Bliff Jones

Jones had success at LSU, going 20-5-6 and winning the SEC in 1932. However, near the end of Jones’ tenure, he had some disagreements with United States Senator Huey Long and resigned from LSU.

Jones ended up coaching Oklahoma the next year before a later stint at Nebraska. His career record was 87-33-15.

Bernie Moore

Moore is one of the most successful coaches in LSU history. He went 83-29-6, winning two conference titles and helped make LSU relevant on a national level. After he was done coaching, he took the job as SEC commissioner.

Paul Dietzel

Dietzel won LSU’s first claimed national title in 1958. In his seven years at LSU, he took it to three major bowl games and coached some of the best players in Tiger history, including Heisman running back Billy Cannon.

But following a 10-1 season in 1961, Dietzel left LSU in a move that resembles a modern-day poaching. Dietzel went to coach his alma mater, Army.

Charles McClendon

McClendon followed Dietzel and continued LSU’s run of success. McClendon never won a national title, but he won 137 games in Baton Rouge.

McClendon didn’t coach again after leaving LSU in 1979, but he went on to serve as director of what’s now known as the Citrus Bowl.

Jerry Stovall

A former LSU player, Stovall led LSU from 1980-1983. However, he didn’t find the same success as his two predecessors. Stovall was fired in ’83 and would later go on to work as the athletic director at Louisiana Tech.

Bill Arnsparger

Arnsparger raised the floor and turned LSU around after the struggles of the Stovall years. He went 26-8-2 and led LSU to two Sugar Bowl appearances.

But after Year 3, he was off to take the athletic director job at Florida. Arnsparger did not coach again in college but did return to the NFL as a defensive coordinator.

Mike Archer

Archer had success in his first two years in Baton Rouge, but it trailed off in 1989 and 1990. Archer was forced out in 1990 and took a job as an assistant with Virginia.

Later stops included the Steelers, Kentucky and NC State. Archer remained around football for a long time, coaching in the XFL as recently as 2020.

Curley Hallman

Hallman’s tenure at LSU was rough. After four losing seasons, he was out. Hallman remained in the SEC, taking a job on Alabama’s defensive staff. He would later go on to work at Mississippi State too.

Gerry DiNardo

DiNardo took over LSU in 1995 and coached until 1999, when he was fired by then LSU athletic director Mark Emmert. Following LSU, DiNardo worked in the XFL. He later served as Indiana’s head coach but was fired after 2004.

Nick Saban

Perhaps the biggest move on this list was Saban’s exit. After taking LSU to the top of the sport, the NFL came calling.

Saban couldn’t turn it down, taking a job with the Miami Dolphins. Things in the NFL didn’t go exactly to plan and Saban returned to college, taking a job at Alabama.

He built Alabama into a dynasty and is now one of the most successful coaches not just in NCAA history, but in sporting history.

Les Miles

Miles had plenty success in his early years at LSU, but it began to trail off in his later years.

Miles was fired in 2016 and took a few years off. He got another chance at Kansas in 2019, but he went just 3-18, including a 0-9 in 2020.

Ed Orgeron

Orgeron was the third straight head coach to win a national title at LSU, but 2020 and 2021 were rough. LSU and Orgeron agreed to part ways in 2021, and since then, Orgeron has stayed away from coaching.

He’s visited several schools where his sons have had jobs, including Miami and Tulane.

Story originally appeared on LSU Tigers Wire