With all of the discussions about Miles' and Saban's completely different personalities, I was wondering what this really means to the LSU football fan. What I mean is, how much are you willing to sacrifice to have a coach that is much more "enjoyable"? I, for one, am really liking the different approach and the way that Miles seems to be dedicated to other facets of the university. I think he is going to do a really good job, and in many ways, I think it's possible that if the defenses remain anywhere near where they have been, he may actually have more success, and over many more years. But, what if I'm wrong and the Saban-like approach is the only way to have Saban-like success. So let's assume a few things here. Completely hypothetically, let's assume that Saban is worth one more win every other year (1/2 game a year) because of his hard-nosed approach and personality. Let's also assume that Miles will take no interest in any NFL jobs or other college coaching jobs. Based on those assumptions, my question is, are you as a die-hard fan willing to sacrifice one win every other year in order to have a coach who has a more enjoyable persona, and won't put all the fans and players through the off-season turmoil of jumping ship? Also, if you are, how much are you willing to sacrifice? The reason I'm asking is the more I read and learn about Saban, the more I don't like him as an individual, and the more I read and learn about Miles, the more I like him as an individual. But, when it really comes down to it, on Saturday nights in the fall, I don't really care if I like the coach's personality or not, I want a win. Saban had a pretty good success rate over his tenure and it's hard to argue with his style when he has that kind of success. I don't really know how I would answer the questions, and I'm hoping I don't ever have to, but I'm just curious as to other's opinions. And I'm asking this while thinking and believing that Miles will have more success than Saban.
saban-speak nah. i'd take the win. i'd get over the offseason stuff as long as he didnt actually leave. it gives us something to talk about.
We rarely heard complaints about Saban's personality/demeanor because he was producing wins and championships. If Miles does the same, he will be extremely popular with fans and media. If he experiences some failure, the media and the fans will be all over him and questioning whether Saban's style was better. Charley Mac was extremely likeable and popular, but once the losses started piling up (about 3 per year, I might add) he was a gone pecan.
As Al Davis likes to say, "Just win baby." Oh yea, and run a clean program I can be proud of. If you can do that, I don't care what your personality is.
There have been coaches with every conceivable personality win on all different levels. The main criteria that they all have had in common is that they know what they are doing, they are true to themselves and they are good leaders. as far as what I think the original question of this thread is, whether or not we would take an extra win every 2 years and deal with Saban's penchant for interviewing every off season or take Miles as a long term coach without the offseason turmoil, I'd take Miles if it was only a 1 win difference every 2 seasons, unless that one win was a National Championship of course.
May mean nothing in the long run, but while watching Miles on cable channel 4 one night at a dinner of some sort, I get the sense he is just trying to fit into a gig that he is in over his head for. It seems he didn't hire the defensive coordinator Clay from Okie St. cause everybody here raised such a fuss......that he hired Jimbo cause everybody raised a fuss.......I don't know. Just seems to me to be a guy in over his head so far. Listening to Ott and hearing guys saying they are looking for 9-2, 10-1.....I don't know if he is in a winnable situation here. I'm ready to get the seaon going and see what we have. He may be a fine coach and win 9 or 10 games this year..........he's got to be able to recruit consistently and hopefully he can. Seems like a nice guy and all...we'll see.
I couldn't agree more. The only thing I don't like about Miles style so far is is being so secretive about practices. Charlie Mac never kept reporters from attending practices. As far as I know none of them ever spilled any covert information, but there were lots more articles for the fans to read about the team. Saban didn't allow reporters too much access, but more than Miles does. But Nick would at least give a lot of details about practice in his interview. Miles just gives routine coachspeak that tells us nothing much at all. Curley Hallman did this too and I always felt he was taking my team away from me a little bit. If Miles wins like Nick, everything will be fine with the fans, but if losses pile up, he needs the fans behind him. We all backed McClendon a lot longer than Hallman or Dinardo because he was one of us and more inclusive of LSU fans.
I think Miles took the LSU job because he also believes their is enough talent now to win 9-10 games and that the program is positioned so that the future should also be able to make 9-10 regualr season wins a year a realistic expectation. So I don't think fans expectations will be any higher than his are. And I also hope that 9-10 wins a year are a realistic expectation in most years with every so often an 8 win season being thrown in due to losses and injuries. I am just afraid of the overblown undefeated expectations being the factor that puts undue pressure on the staff and players.
Maybe, since he's so new to the job, he's trying to avoid being second-guessed before he ever has a chance to show his product. Not by fans but by media types.
That may be your perception, but what I was hearing from the beginning was that Clay would not be joining Miles at LSU as a coach, and that if he went to BR it would only be in an administrative capacity.
