Just wow. I am not here to make sense of this for you--hell, I can't make sense of it myself. It became apparent over the last few days that there isn't anything solid in place for Corey Raymond at LSU. He has been waiting to sit down with Kelly, but that day never came. Coaches like to hire their guys, but I, along with many others, believed that this wouldn't apply to a guy of Corey's stature. Miami toyed around with the idea of bringing Corey in, but it was Florida and Napier that pounced on the opportunity.
Concern turned to frustration early Wednesday when it became apparent that Raymond would not be visiting recruits with the coaches today, as Kerry Cooks was presented as one of the defensive back coaches to Laterrence Welch and Jordan Allen, which was more than a smoke signal for CR. The calls with Florida started mid-morning and by mid-afternoon a deal was in place. It does not appear that LSU tried to talk CR into staying, nor did they try to match the offer.
As for the offer, it sounds like CR will make roughly 850k before incentives, which could bring him close to 1-mill if all incentives kick in. It also comes with an assistant coach title, which he wanted.
It is apparent that Kelly has a vision for this program and I am not here to question that. I do believe he is worthy of being given the benefit of the doubt solely based on what he has accomplished in his career. But it is hard to make sense of this move. Corey has worked through multiple head coaches and numerous coordinators, creating very little friction along the way. Everything started to change under the last regime as CR was demoted from defensive backs coach to cornerbacks coach.
Kelly could hire some great coaches to replace CR, but nobody will duplicate what he has done here. Whether it was his ability to have impact freshmen ready to play every season, have his backups continually play at a high level, churn out elite cornerback prospects at a legendary pace, or simply making sure his room was full of talent through flawless recruiting--CR was as good as it gets. But that's not LSU's problem anymore. That is Florida's.
Concern turned to frustration early Wednesday when it became apparent that Raymond would not be visiting recruits with the coaches today, as Kerry Cooks was presented as one of the defensive back coaches to Laterrence Welch and Jordan Allen, which was more than a smoke signal for CR. The calls with Florida started mid-morning and by mid-afternoon a deal was in place. It does not appear that LSU tried to talk CR into staying, nor did they try to match the offer.
As for the offer, it sounds like CR will make roughly 850k before incentives, which could bring him close to 1-mill if all incentives kick in. It also comes with an assistant coach title, which he wanted.
It is apparent that Kelly has a vision for this program and I am not here to question that. I do believe he is worthy of being given the benefit of the doubt solely based on what he has accomplished in his career. But it is hard to make sense of this move. Corey has worked through multiple head coaches and numerous coordinators, creating very little friction along the way. Everything started to change under the last regime as CR was demoted from defensive backs coach to cornerbacks coach.
Kelly could hire some great coaches to replace CR, but nobody will duplicate what he has done here. Whether it was his ability to have impact freshmen ready to play every season, have his backups continually play at a high level, churn out elite cornerback prospects at a legendary pace, or simply making sure his room was full of talent through flawless recruiting--CR was as good as it gets. But that's not LSU's problem anymore. That is Florida's.
