at Desoto Parish Alumni Tourney and Dinner Saturday night. TE and Recruiting Coordinator Josh Henson spoke as well. Henson was good. Short and sweet leading up to Coach Miles. 2 things that Henson said that stood out: 1) The biggest difference between OSU and LSU is every kid's first question is "What is it like to play in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night?" 2) Henson said the at LSU that nothing less than being the best is allowed. He gave the following example: Henson played in the Tourney. A 4 man scramble. Henson said he drained a 30' birdie putt on a par 5. Henson said he was pretty excited. One of his partners said that it would have been nice if that had been for eagle. The other partner said "typical LSU fan". 3 things from Coach Miles: 1) His wife and all 4 of his kids were there. He spoke glowingly about each of them. He introduced each one. He truly is a family man and loves his family dearly. 2) He spoke about most positions and did not reveal anything that has not been discussed here. He spoke about 05. He spoke about 06 and the schedule this year. He liked the home and away rotation and said if you want to be a champion you are going to have to beat teams " in there yard". He welcomed the challenge. 3) He spoke about the quarterbacks. Jmarc is the man. "He won 10 games for us" He also said that he was asked about the quarterback position in Iraq when he was there. He also made the following comment (paraphrased but pretty damn close): I was in Iraq for about 10 days. Guys, you know when you are away, you miss your wife. You get home and are nudging on her in bed. Well, I was doing that to my wife and she rolled over and said "So, whose going to be your quarterback?" I think we have a great man representing our university. I hope that this great man continues to be a great coach at LSU.
TX TF, Nice report, thanks for updating the rest of us that don't get to attend such events! I enjoyed reading.
I pros version of what I saw last week. I think my detailed description of the wife thing is better. Dubois reminded me of more stuff the COACH said. Coach Miles said that the team decided to "play for Louisiana" not "dedicate the season to Louisiana" in 05. There is a clear distinction there. It is what LSU is all about. LSU is Louisiana!!! Louisiana is LSU. Living in Texas, I here about Texas all the time. These folks over here don't understand what it means to be a fan. Our new baseball coach understands (from the Advocate): He said friends around the country asked him why he’d leave Notre Dame, where he was secure, where he had success, where he enjoyed coaching and raising a family, and where he could have stayed for many more years. Why leave that for a job that has perhaps the most daunting expectations and the most intense scrutiny in all of college baseball? Take it with a grain of cayenne pepper, because Mainieri has yet to lose a game and experience the full weight of those expectations, but his answer was precisely what everyone in the ballroom at the Isle of Capri near Lake Charles wanted to hear Thursday night. “If you had ever been to Louisiana and met the people that root for LSU,” Mainieri remembered telling his friends, “you wouldn’t be asking that question any longer.” Check out The advocate this morning for the article about Coach Miles and Mainieri
Y'all are seeing something about Coach Miles that I saw at OSU, and a part of what makes me like him. He takes on coaching positions not with the attitude of "this is strictly a job", but one of being part of the LSU family and the whole community. And that attitude extends to his family, as they also become part of the LSU family and the community. It seems to me that CLM and his family make an emotional commitment and investment. I like that. I know that the decision to leave OSU was made by the family. They all sat down and discussed what all the change would mean. The former OSU AD said that when the whole family came over to tell him of the decision for Miles to accept the LSU job, that it was obvious they had all been crying. It was emotionally hard to leave OSU for all of them. (This isn't all just what I think, but something that I read in the paper right after the change was made.)
