It just hit me as I was watching UT v. UK--Les Miles reminds me a lot of Phil Fulmer in the sense that he can get his team to some really high levels but often fails at the end or wins very ugly. My family is from Tennessee and my brother-in-law hates Fulmer but he is so nice and now so entrenched he'll be able to stay there and retire. Might be the same situation with Miles--nice guy, good but not great record, solid coach, no spark though.
The difference between LSU and TN is that LSU started the season strong and finished weak - TN started weak and is finishing strong. I'll leave it up to opinions of the "wise ones" on this board to determine the head coaches' roles in those circumstances. IMHO, you can't separate improvement during the year from a head coaches performance, nor vice versa. However, I believe that injuries play into those outcomes. The coaching question is whether or not the injured player(s) is(are) better in the game than the player(s) who would replace him (them). I can't sit in my easy chair and make that determination. It appears that some of these issues will be settled on the field next week.
