The 2026 football season is the 50th for this writer since enrolling at LSU in 1977. The first home game for me was a 77-0 rout of Rice on Sept. 24, 1977. It is the most lopsided win for LSU in the modern era. That clash at Tiger Stadium was preceded by a 24-21 Indiana win over LSU on Sept. 17 of that year at Bloomington.
The victory by Lee Corso’s Hoosiers was one of the biggest in Corso’s career while adversely affecting Charlie McClendon’s push to keep his job. With the defeat, McClendon’s record on the field for the preceding 36 games was 15-20-1. Mac was let go two years later while Corso toiled at IU until 1982, producing a record of 41 wins, 68 losses and two ties.
Indiana was a graveyard for coaches until the arrival two years ago of 62-year-old Curt Cignetti, who has led his team to a 27-2 record overall and 16-0 in a national title run that culminated in Miami this month. Cignetti is the first Indiana coach to have more wins than losses since Bo McMillin, who was 63-48-11 from 1933-47.
Indiana has absorbed the most losses of any school in a major conference in history, but Cignetti turned the corner by navigating the new NIL world. Since Corso’s triumph over McClendon, the Hoosiers have had ten head football coaches, including Gerry DiNardo (8-27 at Indiana) and Cam Cameron, who was 18-37 in a stop before running LSU’s offense under Les Miles.
LSU has had 15 head football coaches (permanent and interim) since the 1977 season. There was the horrid eleven-season span from 1989-99 when LSU endured eight losing seasons, but there have also been seven SEC championship years (1986, 1988, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2019) and three Tiger units from 2003, 2007 and 2019 captured NCAA honors.
McClendon is one of two coaches to collect more than 100 wins at TigerTown. He was 137-59-7 from 1962-79. The overall winner in the last half century is Miles by a substantial margin.
LSU Football Coaching Records from 1977-2025.
Coach Record Years
- Les Miles 114-34 2005-16
- Ed Orgeron 51-20 2015-21
- Nick Saban 48-16 2000-04
- Brian Kelly 34-14 2022-25
- Gerry DiNardo 32-24 1995-99
- Mike Archer 27-18-1 1987-90
- Bill Arnsparger 26-8-2 1984-86
- Charles McClendon 23-13 1977-79
- Jerry Stovall 22-21-2 1980-83
- Curley Hallman 16-28 1991-94
- Frank Wilson 2-3 2025
- Hal Hunter 1-0 1999
- Brad Davis 0-1 2021
- Bo Rein 0-0 1980
- Lane Kiffin 0-0 2026
Eight men have served as president of the United States since 1977. The job at LSU is not term-limited but has nearly twice the turnover of the U.S. president, who is term-limited.
The overall record for the 15 coaches in the last 49 years is 373-172-5 (68.4 percent).
At 50, Kiffin is young enough to shatter all coaching records at LSU. Fans will learn whether their nomadic leader possesses the staying power to last more than a decade at one place. If he does, LSU could reverse its trend of replacing its coach every three years or so.
2026 Pivotal for Bregman and Nola
LSU has not produced a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but two current MLB players have an outside chance of becoming the first Tigers enshrined at Cooperstown. This season is pivotal for former Bengal teammates Alex Bregman and Aaron Nola.
Bregman recently inked a five-year, $175 million deal with the Cubs. The third baseman turns 32 on March 30 and has a ten-year career WAR total of 43.1. The contract is lavish for a player, who peaked in 2019 with Houston and batted .273 with Boston last year with 18 homers in 114 games.
Bregman’s work ethic is legendary, but his WAR total from 2017-19 was 20.8 in just three seasons. The WAR score from the veteran from Albuquerque is 20.3 in the last six seasons. The Cubs are counting on Bregman regaining the form that made him a top five vote getter in the MVP balloting in 2018 and 2019.
Nola has pitched his eleven-year MLB career with the Philadelphia Phillies. The right-hander has five years remaining on his contract at $24,571,429 per season.
Nola struggled last year to a 5-10 mark with an ERA of 6.01. The Baton Rouge Catholic product will be 33 on June 4 and his comeback is crucial for a team that starts 2026 without its ace hurler. Zack Wheeler underwent major surgery with a blood clot removed from his pitching shoulder.
Nola peaked in 2018 and led the majors with a WAR total of 9.7. He was 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA and 224 strikeouts at his best. Nola’s career WAR is 34.9. He has 1,876 career strikeouts and is 109-89 with a 3.83 ERA.
Dale Brown 40 Years from 1986
Forty years ago, Dale Brown, age 50, piloted his LSU Tigers to the Final Four as an eleventh seed in the NCAA Tournament.
LSU topped Purdue, Memphis State, Georgia Tech and Kentucky on the way to Dallas. Brown’s crew ran out of gas against Louisville in the Final Four semifinal, but the unit left an indelible mark as a team that would not die.
The season started with a void in the lineup as All-SEC standout Jerry “Ice” Reynolds left for the NBA. Then starter Nikita Wilson was declared academically ineligible at mid-season as Coach Brown graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with the caption “Crazy Days at LSU.”
Things got more bizarre when John Williams and Bernard Woodside were diagnosed with chicken pox forcing enough postponements that LSU played five games in eight days. Brown’s identity as an underdog was in full bloom when his tattered team entered the tournament with a record of 22-11 overall and 9-9 in the SEC.
Had Reynolds and Wilson been around to complement starters Derrick Taylor, Anthony Wilson, John Williams, Don Redden and Ricky Blanton, LSU likely would have won it all.
A rule change after the season also would have also boosted their championship chances. The NCAA adopted a three-point play to go into effect in the 1986-87 season. LSU featured a brilliant long-distance shooting squad in 1986 and did not benefit from the most substantial rule change in modern time by one year.
Most members of the team of 40 years ago traveled to Baton Rouge for a reunion weekend on January 16-17. Many ventured long distances to huddle one more time with Brown and fellow coaches Ron Abernathy, Jonny Jones and Bo Bahnsen. Their grit and humanity are proof that national titles are often secondary to exemplary lives. Zoran Jovanovich arrived from Serbia. As he said good-bye, the mammoth 7-footer kissed 90-year-old Coach Brown on the forehead in what may be the final visit with his mentor. The big man wept as he departed the PMAC where the magic from 1986 forever lingers.
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