Wow. I hardly ever post in these threads, mostly just read through them. But this post caught my attention. I can't believe we have fans expecting to be in the SEC championship game every year. This is unrealistic to me. Don't we agree that the SEC is the toughest conference in college football. And we expect to be in it every year? Come on. Last year we had a redshirt freshman and a freshman quarterback. What did you expect last year. This year we had a sophmore and a redshirt sophmore qb. I expected about a 9-3 record at best 10-2. The expectations of this fan base are getting ridiculous. I just hope we have a new OC next year and I'll leave it at that.
The thing is, most people that don't like Miles are the ones who get ragged by their co-workes and such for losses. My thing is, Miles makes mistakes and that's gonna happen. Anywhere and with anyone. To say that a coach in a weaker conference can come in and dominate the SEC is just talk. There's no guarantee there. Miles has had some times where I know I've thought "wtf" but you get over it. Being 9-3 at the end of the season and facing Penn St. in the CapOne bowl is a good thing. Not the best, but then again, it's tough winning every championship every year. Ask Urban.:geaux:
Les Miles makes 3.8 million a year. For this we have an offense rated somewhere in the 100s. We have lines that get beat on both sides of the ball. We have a "much improved" defense that is porous by previous standards. We pinned our hopes on a troubled QB by not getting a QB the following year. We've mishandled the QB situation Perrilloux left us with. We've seen very talented players underutilized. We've seen little improvement over the course of the season. We've played the roll of scrappy underdog all season despite having all the talent in the world. Miles has reportedly recruited his ass off, only we don't see the results of that on the field. We don't see an ability of this coaching staff to take in project players and turn them into strong NFL prospects. I see talented players just kind of in limbo. For all those appalled that anyone would consider Saban a good coach, given the choice between Miles and Saban, how many programs would chose Miles? Slim to none. We are not getting our money's worth with Miles. Anyone wanting to tout his W/L record can base their argument on that shallow analysis, but it only scratches the surface of explaining our situation. There are a lot more variables that can be used as indicators. You may "just want to believe" but you really sound blinded by your inclination to defend ALL things LSU.
I think you hit the nail on the head, some people have to hold the coach up AS the institution, for what ever reason. Its a form of denial. Every coach has a bag packed in the closet, its the nature of the business. They cant seperate the two. Coaches make it worse by whooping it up for the home team BUT we pay them to do that. if you think about it, watch Saban's post game interviews, he could just as easily be giving that same interview back in 03 wearing purple and gold. Miles was saying let er rip long before he got here. There aren't any bobby bowden's, Joe paterno's or Bear bryants left. Coaches take their game plan with them when they go, some times it fits and sometimes it doesn't LSU is bigger than any ONE coach. Miles, Saban, Cholly Mac, so on and so forth. Some people just have this narrow scope of view, they dont realize a guy like SPurrier is the SAME coach he was at U of F just a different uniform and recruits. AND the rest of the SEC has caught up to him.
for the record, I think Saban is a better coach than Urban, but U of F wasnt outcoached they were out played. Bama controled the LOS all day. meyer couldnt have helped them had he suited up himself. they were out played.
Don't be surprised by this but I agree that Saban is a better coach than Miles. I'd even go so far as to say much better... and I even wish he had never left. Coaches, though are held to a standard and that is their record of accomplishments first ( W/L record. Post season record, etc). That is the bottom line. Character and image are important (just ask Bobby Knight or Woody Hayes) but secondary. I hold Les Miles accountable to these standards and, so far, I don't see much reason to call for his head. If we lose 4 or 5 games for several seasons in a row....then I might think differently. And I'm aware of Miles record against SECw teams lately...I'm looking at the big picture I guess. JSracing, good point about Meyer and his players being out played...It's not always the coaches fault.
