I loved Saban when he was here and I love Miles as HC of the Tigers. But what I love most is the LSU program itself. Scanning the college football landscape, I see Florida and Bama in damage control over the USC fallout now that the NCAA has prioritized looking into contact between agents and players. I see USC, Michigan, and Notre Dame all in a period of great decline. I see the Pac 10 get watered down by expansion (loving it) and the ticking time bomb known as Kiffen. LSU - so far - is the only SEC program that has a HC who won a National Championship that does not have NCAA investigators looking into improper contact between players and agents...I think that speaks well for Miles. More importantly it speaks of the integrity of LSU as an institution. The Brent Musberger of the world can continue to ignore or belittle us...history proves us to be a DAMN STRONG program.
After reading a couple of post most of the feeling of Baton Rouge is reflected in this thread. The people that think they really know football don't like Les. They didn't like Les on day one and don't like how how he reflects on LSU football. The 07 season only was a minor speed bump for this crowd. In the 3rd year of Les stay in Baton Rouge they bring up Nick and Nick's players being the major reason Les won the :crystal: in 07. Since that line of thought is so stupid and has no merit I will not bring it up again. They don't like the way Les carries himself, how he looks on the sideline and the fact he shows no fire from the sidelines. Then we have the Auburn game in 07 and the Ole Miss game in 09. I have no problem with the Aubrun game but you can burn Les all you want for the Ole Miss game. Les gets no credit for having a better 5 year record than any head coach in the history of LSU football. No one talks about how hard it is to follow a guy like Nick and set your own tone and creat your own system of success. So even with a average of 10 wins a season for 5 years a large % of Tiger football fans would fire CLM today if given the button. At work, on the radio and the net much of you what you hear in 09 and how stupid Les Miles is. It hurts me and the way I deal with it is to stay away from it. I can't fix that but I can love my LSU football. I am looking forward to each game so I can talk about what a wonderful job Les did to get this team ready. If Les is the captain of the ship and he gets all of the blame for the bad, I will make sure he gets all the credit for a great 2010 season.:milesmic: Mr. Dodd of CBS sports put it down much better than I! No matter what you think of that profile, Michigan, there's one small problem: Les Miles coaches LSU right now. You know he's a Michigan man who played under Bo and we've been through this before. The timing probably wasn't right for Miles to leave 2½ years ago when Lloyd Carr stepped down -- Miles was chasing a national championship. Now, he's under pressure to win at a place where he has -- in addition to that championship in 2007 -- won more games in five years (51) than any coach in LSU history including Nick Saban. Miles has beaten Alabama, Auburn and Florida all in the same season. Twice. The man has won almost 70 percent of his career games. But that championship was three years ago. Since then he is 17-9, which hardly qualifies dropping off the face of the earth. Here's the dichotomy: LSU may not want him after this season, but Michigan can't have him. Not yet. Peruse this open letter to fans from LSU AD Joe Alleva sent in January. It basically put his coach on notice and seems a bit bold considering Miles' accomplishments. Alleva termed last year's 9-4 season a "nice: season. "On the other hand, being "nice" is not our annual goal," Alleva wrote. :tigereye:cliff
Really? The Tigers are loaded with young talent and coming off a year in which they improved and finished #3 in the SEC with losses to two top-5 teams. We didn't lose anybody that was irreplaceable. A "shell"? With all due respect, you sound more like a pessimist than a realist. LSU has recruited well, played tough schedules, has won championships and averages 10 wins a season. What "reality" suggests that LSU is in decline? I don't see a "shell' of a team in decline. Just some folks that are worried about the future.
While you list some valid criticisms, you just couldn't resist revealing the real problem you have with Miles. His "lackluster" career prior to LSU was nearly identical to the previous coach. He came in at LSU's height? I thought we followed a NC with a three loss season, including a bowl loss? Your irrational dislike of the hire and inability to give Miles credit for what he has accomplished totally negates your attempt to portray yourself as a reasonable critic. The foundation of your viewpoint is not balanced and as a result should be ignored.
that's it in a nutshell, and with LSU not winning playing in a championship game, they're out in full force running their mouths. So my quesition to the Miles haters is this: Run him off and hire who? Who out there is a guarenteed upgrade? WHO? And spare me the same ridiculous names that come up every time we look for a coach. Gruden? Never been a college HC. Turned down ND even though his father coached there and he wanted to go but didn't because he knew he wouldn't see the field. Makes 4.3 a year as a comentator for ESPN. Does anybody really think we'd have a reasonable shot at him? Davis? He refused to talk to us when Saban left, claimed burnout. Cowher? Never showed any interest in being a college HC. Shanahan? I heard that name everytime fans talk about a new LSU coach. Never interested, and we couldn't have afforded him even if he was. Carroll? Yeah, and we can end up like USC in 4 years. Or maybe his highness, Saban. He's going to leave a school where they've built a statue of him, and gumps are getting full scale tatoos of him on their bodies. Because he really loved it here and secretly wants to come back. Right. He showed how much emotion he had for LSU when he went to Bama. NONE LSU is recruiting great under Miles. He hires solid assitants, and with the right players, circumtances and good fortune all come together, he can coach a championship team. He's done it. Saban and Bama had it last year, the right mix of players, schedule, and good fortune. Bama fans can fool themselves if they want to, but they were the lucky too. (Tenn. field goal kicker injured and not being able to get any lift on his field goals, controversial calls, etc.
I have to agree with Herb on the definition of a team that is a shell of it's former self...Michigan and Notre Dame. I'm not ready to put USC into that category...yet. But I feel we have the better coaching staff. - And speaking of Coach Cowher, his wife passed away yesterday...:bncry:
Another excellent, well-thought posting!:thumb: As long as Miles continues to recruit the way he has shown, LSU will be in position more times than not to compete for championships. That, combined with the manner in which he conducts the program, is all you can reasonably ask for. :geaux:
Ugh... Okay, you're unclear here. Do you mean that the "previous coach," prior to his arrival at LSU had a nearly identical career to Miles' before his arrival? The "previous coach" may have had a similar career prior to arriving at LSU, but at that point in time, we were coming off of some pretty bad seasons with Dinardo. We were still losing a lot of quality in-state guys, the offense was degrading faster than the quality of your posts, and the defense was a joke. While the "previous coach" came in with a "nearly identical" career, it was a gamble. But LSU was at a very low point, and it could afford a risk. How could it get any worse? He came in, as a nobody at the time, and turned things around. Regardless of the "previous coach's" last season, which was a disappointment, LSU was at its height in recruiting and national acclaim. The Tigers were a team to be feared again not only on the field, but off. We were keeping lots of in-state and out of state prospects for a change, and the defense was exciting and well-respected. Despite 2004, LSU was still an elite program with extremely talented players. Miles stepped in at LSU's height, no matter how far you have your head buried in the sand. The "previous coach" stepped in when LSU was nearly a bottom feeder. For you to sidestep this point and make it sound as if Miles' career and arrival in 2004 was similar to the "previous coach's" career and arrival in 2000 is disappointing and dishonest. Any normal kool-aid drinking sunshine pumper wouldn't be that ridiculous. In addition to refuting your previous "point," my dislike of the hire is not irrational at all. Miles came in after a 7-5 season with Okie St. and a bowl loss. In fact, in 4 seasons he went to 3 bowls and won only one of them (against Houston). Then, he took over LSU. It is completely rational to dislike the hire. But hindsight is 20/20, right? The end justifies the means. And while I credit much of Miles' success to talent, Miles does deserve credit for his success at LSU, including the NC. I do, however, believe that if we didn't have Bo Pelini (to Miles' credit), Miles never would have had an NC nor would he have the winning percentage he has. When Bo left, the fire on the field left with him. When I think about it now, the NC should have given Miles another 3 years guaranteed, which makes this year his make or break year. I just don't think things will improve, despite hoping they do, because when it comes to Miles, the polish/luck has worn off and it's catching up on him. "Your foundation... blah blah blah." Quit being foolish. Shouldn't you be defending JaMarcus or something, anyways? Let me ask you this: after an 8-5 and 9-4 season, what are your predictions for this year? What are your expectations? Do you even have any? At what point do you think Miles should be in hot water? Or do you believe he should never be in hot water unless something drastic (rule breaking, winless season) happens?
Whoa! First of all, you say I have an agenda, as if I have any way of carrying out anything because of it. In my previous post, all I was trying to say was that I wouldn't blindly assess the coaching effort without seeing how the season plays out. I am very concerned about losing the 2011 recruits. My concern is that if we slip into mediocrity the recruits will stay away on their own in the future. I have never accused any Miles supporters of having an agenda, so don't accuse me of having one. I have never hid my feelings about Miles and am not just jumping off the bandwagon because of the last 2 years. Miles supporters want to keep him around because they fear a return to the 90s. Those who do not support Miles fear we are heading that way and hope a change is made before we return to the 90s. None of us want a return to those days. The only difference is our thoughts on how to prevent that from happening.
