but not the one every was thinking about. Searles is going to be the O-line coach at UGA in a report just out on rivals.com Said Miles stated he would begin an immediate search for his replacement. also, another "rumor" is Bo Pelini's interest in the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota job. While losing assistants is something that happens the more successful you become, I'd hate to have to replace both coordinators as well as a position coach all in the same off season with expectations of another making back-to-back BCS games and having our sights set on another SEC title.
Here's the link: http://lsu.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=626651 and if you're interested, these are the players Searles was responsible for recruiting this year: Kentravis Aubrey DE 6-3 285 Bastrop, LA DeAngelo Benton WR 6-3 195 4.45 Bastrop, LA Luther Davis DT 6-4 254 4.8 12/1/2006 West Monroe, LA Josh Dworaczyk OL 6-5 263 New Iberia, LA D'Montreal Wilson OL 6-5 295 4.9 Rayville, LA
It's clear why Fisher would want a head coach job, and also Pelini. I could see Fisher going to Bama, cause Saban leaves him alone and coaches the defense, or to FSU where he has a chance to become head coach soon, or to Ga. Tech as head coach. But why Searles leaving? Was he that tight with Jimbo and he knows Jimbo is leaving. Why a lateral to UGA? That does not look like a step up.
Someone mentioned a rumor about Searles and Miles having conflicting blocking schemes. I dunno. Possible I guess since Miles is a former O-lineman himself, but it seems as though every time a coach either leaves, or is rumored to be interviewiing for another job, someone always says it's because he's butting heads with Miles or something along those lines...Kinda hard to believe that the likeable character that Miles is would have so many run-ins with his assistants? I'm not buying all of it. So why the lateral move for Searles? He's a native of Rome, GA (played high school at Trion). Guess this is sort of a move to get closer to family? That's my guess. You know what they say? The more successful your program becomes, the more other programs notice what you have and try to hire away members of your staff.
Yea. He is a top recruiter. Hate to lose him. Wonder why he made the move. I could understand it if he was going to be an OC.
My understanding is that with Jimbo leaving, Miles wants to bring in his offensive team. Stacey going to Ga. most likely means CJF does not go to bama, as Stacey would have probably went with Jimbo. Heard that this is very true and CJF stayed between Miles and Stacey.
Miles is an OL coach, so losing Seales as a coach doesnt bother me. His recruiting will be sorely missed though. Same with Fisher, I dont care for his coaching, but will miss his recruiting. Hopefully Miles can assemble a staff that he wants, that fit his outlook. So we can get some continuity. It just sucks to possibly have new schemes and a bunch of new coaches when we are expecting a big time year.
Searles offensive line underperformed badly this year, many of us felt. I was kind of expecting Miles to make a change. Nick was rough on assistants and turned over about three every year. Miles may be easy going, but he would be a fool not to replace a position coach who was not getting the job done. Remember . . .both Charlie McClendon and Gerry Dinardo lost their jobs for being too loyal to assistant coaches who were not getting the job done. It's a business and Miles had better be businesslike about it.
You bring up a good point. The OL played horrible earlier this year. They passed block well the whole year. Their run blocking is what was lacking. There were no holes being made. The run blocking really started to excel at the end of the year. They finally started playing like a mean, physical line. One that you would expect from LSU. Before most runs were for either no gain or we would bust a nice 10+ yard run. It makes skews the avg, making it look nice. When in reality we werent running the ball consistently.
OK, the new head man needs to put his people in place. We're glad he didn't turn it all over at once, as it clearly was not broken. But I suppose its not unusual to have a little turnover after 2 years. Last year we just lost Dunbar, the D-line coach. Earl Lane seems to have done a GREAT job in that area (of course he has some excellent players to work with). We have a great defense, can't knock it at all.
