Just curious on opinions. Watching the Michigan v OSU game. They brought up that fact that if Michigan loses this game, it could possibly be the end for Rich Rod, though the Michigan officials said they will wait til after the bowl game. The announcers talked about Jim Harbaugh as a possibility at Michigan, but Les was not mentioned. If Michigan is Les's dream job, can he pass it up a second time? If Michigan loses today, will any of the talk start up again? Will be interesting to see. (Now... start the flaming... "You don't like him anyay." "He's not your coach, why do you care?")
That is my fear. That, although Miles has said he doesn't give a rats ass what the fans think, this is his swan song. That he will finish out this season with an 11-1 record, go dominate tOSU in the Sugar Bowl, again, and Mich will come calling. Where he then tells the great fans of Louisiana and Tiger Nation, Thank you for the Damn Great Time, but it is time for me to go, I wish that I had been appreciated just a little bit more. It may have made a difference. To those that this may have been what they have been wishing for, be careful what you wish for, it maybe what you get for Christmas.
It's being reported that RR is out if they lose today. The same reports I read had Harbaugh as the front runner to replace him. Les is also supposedly on the short list for the CU vacancy. Don't see that given the CU athletic department's financial situation.
From the Michigan side I think Les' ship has sailed, especially with the huge buyout in his contract (and I seem to remember there being a clause that raised the amount if he left for Michigan). If they did offer the job to Les it would be an extremely tough decision. There are a lot of our fans who think that the LSU fan base was "running Les off" with the criticism early in the season. You think that's bad now, then wait to see what happens if he doesn't produce immediate results in Ann Arbor. But as somebody else has pointed out, it's home, and you can't put a $ sign on that. My hunch is at this point is Les wouldn't be so quick to uproot his family and turn his back on one of the sweetest coaching gigs in college football at the moment, not unless Michigan heavily sweetens the deal.
You mean appreciated like Rodriguez was at Michigan? $3 million-dollar coaches catch extreme hell everywhere. Even Saban is getting criticized at Bama and Meyer is getting hammered. Les knows that he can't get away from fan over-optimism and criticism. Not at Michigan, not nowhere. Miles graduates only 9 scholarship seniors from a top-5 team and opens next year against #1 Oregon. The LSU team has a great shot at a BCS run next year. The Michigan team got its last coach fired. Miles knows he can recruit here, too. Miles will be very happy to return to Michigan as a famous retired millionaire alumnus in his own sky box.
I'm 99% certain there is a clause in Les' contract that he would owe LSU a dollar amount if he left to go to Ann Arbor. I don't remember the amount. Perhaps Red does.
And for every bit as bad as it is for Saban and Meyer, at least they have winning records. Mack Brown is catching holy hell.
Look at the caliber of athletes in Michigan's starting defense. Then look at the caliber of athletes on LSU's second and third team defenses. That tells you everything. It's impossible to recruit in the midwest these days, meanwhile Les is sitting on one of the larger talent gold mines in all of America and has just hit the motherload in this 2011 class. In Miles' press conference after the '07 SEC Championship Game, he said that Bo Schembechler told him before dying that he should find his own Michigan. I think he wants to coach here for a long time, and become an institution at LSU like JoePa, Bowden, the Bear, Woody, or Bo. He truly wants to make LSU his lifelong school. At least that is what he said in 2007. I can't imagine three straight years of coaching and recruiting incredible players/people and forming bonds with them has changed his mind. Especially not with the way this season has gone for him. He's riding high, and reaping the benefits. Why turn that down for mediocrity, cold weather, and equal pressure/expectations?
