By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
They called it “Camp Curley,” and it featured three-a-day practices with the first one soon after sunrise. There was a very physical approach to the workouts with lots of contact. It was the time.
And LSU coach Curley Hallman had inherited a program before the 1991 season that was coming off the first back-to-back losing seasons at LSU since 1955 and ’56.
Hallman’s Tigers may have been stronger and battle tested as preseason practices ended. But it rarely showed on the field as LSU continued losing in all four seasons with him as coach – 5-6 in 1991 after 31-10 and 45-7 losses to open the season at Georgia and at Texas A&M, 2-9 in 1992, 5-6 in 1993 with a 58-3 home loss to Florida and 4-7 in 1994.
New coach Gerry DiNardo had a similar practice philosophy and had three straight winning seasons from 1995-97 at 7-4-1, 10-2 and 9-3. But a 4-7 season followed in 1998. A punishing, full-contact practice just two days before LSU’s SEC opener in 1999 may have had something to do with a 41-7 loss to Auburn, which finished 5-6 and 2-6 in the league.
LSU was 2-8 and 0-7 in the SEC in 1999 and had lost 10 straight league going back to 1998 when DiNardo was fired. LSU then hired Michigan State head coach Nick Saban, who carried in a hard-nosed reputation and was a successful defensive coordinator in the NFL. But he didn’t like and usually avoided two-a-day practices.
LSU QB Sam Leavitt looks like he was never injured, says Lane Kiffin after first preseason practice.https://t.co/lMjWMtE6xZ
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) August 5, 2026
LSU has had one losing season – 6-7 in 2021 – this century. The Tigers have another new coach in Lane Kiffin, who inherits a 7-6 team from last year and a program void of the playoffs since winning the 2019 national championship.
But his approach is actually a lighter one.
“We’re following kind of a ramp-up program to prevent injuries,” Kiffin said after LSU’s first preseason practice of the year on Wednesday that lasted only 90 minutes. No. 13 LSU plays No. 23 Clemson on Sept. 5 in Tiger Stadium (6:30 p.m., ABC).
“There’s not much work out there, but that’s really long-term thinking,” he said.
Then Kiffin gave the team Thursday day off before a night practice at 6:30 amid cooler temperatures. Only a walk-through is scheduled for Friday, a morning practice Saturday and a day off Sunday. There will be morning practices followed by night practices next week before things get more difficult in later August.
Kiffin used a similar less intense approach in August last year in his sixth and final season at Ole Miss. And the Rebels had one of their greatest seasons in history at 11-1 and 7-1 before a 2-1 run in the College Football Playff after Kiffin left for LSU following the regular season.
“We kind of started that last year, just looking at being fresh at the end of season and avoiding injuries in the first five days of practice,” Kiffin said.
Ole Miss finished the regular season strong with a 5-0 run of double-digit victories as practices grew shorter as the season grew longer.
“Looking at last year, we were as healthy as any team going into the playoffs, if not healthier than anybody,” Kiffin said. “I think a big part of that was because of our change to practicing less and less.”
And winning more and more is the idea.
Be the first to comment