Les Miles
Reports surfaced out of Baton Rogue, Louisiana last week that Les Miles’ time as the head football coach of the LSU Tigers was coming to an end. In 11 years at LSU, Miles has compiled a record of 111-32 which includes a pair of Southeastern Conference Championships and a national title. Miles’ record would make him a legend at most schools, but there has always been a consensus that he has not been welcomed by everyone the follows the LSU program and that notion is beginning to once again rear its ugly head.
When Miles came to LSU in 2005, he replaced Nick Saban who in a very short time had built a legacy for himself. In five years at LSU, Saban was 48-16 which included a pair of Southeastern Conference Championships and a national title. But when Miles won the national title at LSU in 2007, his skeptics approached it as if he won with Saban’s guys. However all Miles has done at LSU is win which is highlighted by him having seven seasons where the Tigers have won at least 10 games, and that is more than any other coach in school history. But over the last four years, Miles has had his struggles against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Saban left LSU in 2005 to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League. But after two years with the Dolphins, Saban was lured back to the collegiate ranks at Alabama. In Miles’ first five meetings with Saban, LSU was 3-2, but since then it’s been all Tide as they have won the last five meetings, including at 21-0 beat down at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in the 2012 Bowl Championship Series Title Game. This year LSU won their first seven games until they were destroyed by Alabama on November 7, 30-16. Highlighted by the loss to Alabama, LSU dealt with their first three-game losing streak under Miles which almost resulted in the school showing him the door. And when it became public knowledge that LSU was looking to make a change, there was a national outcry of people that showed support for Miles.
LSU just finished their regular season this past Saturday night at Tiger Stadium as they defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 19-7. From the moment that the Tigers took the field, the folks at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rogue expressed their support and love for Miles. The LSU players supported that sentiment as well which was illustrated by the Tigers having one of their most physical contests of the year. After the game LSU athletic director Joe Alleva expressed his support of Miles and announced that there wouldn’t be a new head football coach at the school for 2016. Apparently the decision was made during Saturday night’s win over A&M, but it shouldn’t have had to come to that.
Since coming to LSU, all Miles has done is win, but the folks there became spoiled during Saban’s run and now the expectations have become unrealistic. Under Miles, LSU has only finished two seasons where they were not ranked in the top 25. And whereas the Southeastern Conference is the premier conference in college football, the SEC West alone is tougher than most conferences in the country. But under Miles, LSU has never finished lower than fourth in the SEC West. However, Miles’ biggest problem has been the success of Saban at Alabama. Under Saban, the Tide have won the SEC West five times including three out of the last four years as they have been the biggest detriment to the Bayou Bengals. And with Alabama consistently winning the SEC West, it has prevented LSU from getting to the conference title game and potentially playing for more national championships. When Alabama faces LSU, the winner typically wins the SEC West while that is usually the lone loss for the team that doesn’t win.
But some of the LSU boosters have allowed themselves to get caught up in the chase for the national title and at the same time, they have overlooked what Miles has done. Miles has consistently sent players to the National Football League with some of them going on to be stars which includes New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson as his pipeline to the next level ranks up there with any of the top college football programs in the nation. However even with that, one thing that has hurt Miles is the fact that he has been unable to develop solid pocket-passing quarterbacks along with an offense that will concentrate on the deep pass which will provide more excitement for the fans. Whereas LSU is one the top rushing teams in the nation and they continue to churn out quality running backs to the NFL, they are 111th in the nation this season in passing offense in Miles’ “three yards and cloud of dust” offense.
Miles is a disciple of the late Bo Schembechler who was the iconic head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines for two decades. Miles played for Schembechler at Michigan and he believed in smash mouth football along with a rock solid defense. Years later, Miles still lives by this philosophy, but you can bet that it will be tweaked if he wants to remain at LSU for the long term. The Gulf Coast region is one of the most fertile in the United States for high-school football talent which is a good reason why LSU continues to flourish. LSU typically has the first crack at the top talent in the region and on that rare occasion they might lose out to the big boys such as Alabama or the Texas Longhorns.
LSU made the right call in keeping Miles because head coaches with his kind of success don’t come in on the riverboat that often. Miles has won in the SEC during an era that saw a team from that conference win the national title in eight consecutive years and he can still get it done. Miles has class and style which is fit for Baton Rogue and he’s also a man that could own Bourbon Street with one of his infamous sales pitches. And if LSU is able to win the SEC next year, all will be forgotten and maybe then the folks in the bayou will finally understand how good that Miles is.
Source: Cfbstats.com
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