2005 Thread Reasons why Les Miles is not a good hire for LSU

First let me state, that I will never talk bad about Les Miles again if he is hired as LSU's head coach. I will stand behind him if hired. However, until he officially he is LSU's coach I won't to show my unhappiness about this coaching search and final selection.


1. He is not a big name that will save recruiting this year anyway so why rush to hire a new coach? Waiting for a NFL assistant would have been much better and we would have a better chance of saving recruiting. The NFL seasons ends tomorrow and LSU could have interviewed any of them. Even an SEC assistant coach, like Brian VanGorder, would have a better shot because at least the kids in this area know his name.

2. His overall record at OKlahoma State is 28-21. Yeah, yeah, I know very similar to Saban's record at Michigan State (34-24-1). However, Saban was 9-2 his final season at Michigan State.

3. He has million dollar buyout. Saban wasn't worth a million dollar buyout. Neither is Les Miles. If you are taking a chance and going out on a limb with a hire, why pay 1 million dollars for that risk? A young assistant coach in the NFL or within the SEC would have been a better risk in my opinion.

4. Character Issues - He just signed an extension at Oklahoma State this month very similar to Bobby Petrino. Bobby Petrino took a PR beating for this, why not him? Doesn't this reveal a lack of character similar to Petrino?

5. He has an offensive background. I prefer, and most of my friends preferred, a defensive coach, because defense wins championships.

6. His team runs a 4-2-5 defensive scheme at Ok. State. Ok. State gave up 33 points to Ohio state who couldn't score itself out of a wet paper bag the entire season.

7. He is a Michigan graduate. If Michigan comes a calling when Carr retires in a couple of years, don't think he wouldn't jump at that job. He would leverage any success at LSU (hopefully) to take the Michigan job. See #4. At least with Saban at least he never was going to leave LSU for another college job.

8. Lack of imagination. I watched three games during OSU's season and in none of them did he or his staff show any imagination on either side of the ball. And I don't mean trick plays, just on overall sense of good gameplanning or timing during the game. I mean OSU was up 35-7 on Texas and choked it away by allowing 49 unanswered points.

9. Lack of Pedigree. Saban was a DC for a top 5 NFL defense. This guy was an position coach (TE I think). A lot different responsibilities. His other jobs were OC at Ok. State.

10. No championships at any level as OC or head coach. Saban at least won the MAC.

Lets hope he wins but anything less than 8-3 next year and Bertman will be feeling alot of heat for this bungled coaching search. All searches without Emmert = bad. All searches with Emmert = good.

 

couldn't agree more

I want Les Miles to be incredibly successful if he's our new coach. But I have huge doubts and I think that others who know more about coaching and coaching searches than I do have the same doubts. Worse yet, it seems that the LSU politics that got us Curly Hallman and Gerry DiNardo have gotten the upper hand again. No one can say this hire is distinguished. It may turn out to have been a good bet on a long shot. I hope so. But it's still a long shot. If I were making big decisions like that which affect so many people as well as the ENTIRE ECONOMY OF BATON ROUGE I would not bet the farm on a long shot. And I wouldn't PAY IN ADVANCE to be allowed to make the bet.

 

I agree also and this is what bothers me the most.
Plenty of time to interview candidates this week and I pray Skip and the ones involved in hiring won't sell out success so that they can be boss or rule over someone, in other words don't want to hire a big time coach with the power they would want like NS.

 

I'm not even an OSU fan, but I think that I can answer these statements correctly.

No offense, but ittakes more than a name to recruit. Spurrier is one of the biggest names in college football and he sucks at recruiting. When Zook left Florida, the recruiting took a noticable turn down. That being said, Miles is known for being extremely effective in the living room, much like the guy he's replacing.

Saban never beat a team as good as OU at Michgan State ever, much less twice.

I don't like the buyout issue at all. All I can say here is that he better pay off.

No. He's a coach expected to leave for Michigan anyway.

Since when does what you prefer determine what is right and what is wrong? Sure it's your opinion, but plenty of offensive minded coaches have won Nat'l Championships.

That would be the design of their Defensive Coordinator, Clay. I doubt that he's making his way to Baton Rouge I hear. However, he had to do the best he could in stopping OU with what he had and I understand it wasn't much. A good coach realizes that instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole (see Saints coaching staff).

Until LSU grows her own coach, this will be a problem. Using this logic, Terry Robiskie would be your only option. I promise you Saban would have thought twice had Notre Dame, Ohio State or Michigan ever called him about coaching there. Any coach would at least consider coaching one od the three most successful NCAA football programs of all time.

That goes more towards their defense than anything, however LSU would have beaten Iowa today had they shown some consistency in playcalling. A more conservative run/pass balance would have kept Iowa off the field and extended some drives. It's an offense that has won more games than any other in NCAA history. It's the offense of the Michigan Wolverines.

He's a Bo Schembechler disciple. If that's not pedigree I don't know what is. He also coached under Gary Moeller and Bill McCartney.

Since when is the MAC Championship is a sign of things to come? :rofl:

Read up a bit on the guy before posting, bra. He's not a bad choice. In fact, other than Butch Davis he might be the best choice. I'll save my final feelings about the guy when I see who he brings in as DC.

BTW, OSU is crying that their special teams coach and best recruiter might be leaving with him since he has ties to USL.

 

Wow MLU, nice analysis. You bring up some great points. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I like to think that Bertman and Co. have a helluva lot more information available to them when making this decision than I do. I'll support them until given reason not to, but your analysis makes me ptimistic if they go w/ Miles (and why spend life being miserable, huh?!!?)

 

While I agree, a big name would definately help this years class.

Saban beat Ohio State when they were number 1 in the country.

This argument doesn't make any sense. Signing a contract extension and accepting a new job in the same month doesn't rank high on the integrity issue.

I agree it is just my opinion. However if you get involved in shootouts all the time you ending up losing about 1 every year at least and sometimes more if you don't catch some breaks.

The difference is that Saban was never ever linked to other coaching jobs and ND could have hired him twice during his tenure at LSU.

Being a disciple doesn't prove anything. Mike Dubose was a Bear Bryant disciple. Nick Saban had a top 5 NFL defense. Miles only was an OC that scored 38 points a game. In college not a big deal. Morris Watts offenses averaged like 37 or 38 points

I was just trying to find a tenth point. I agree but at least he won a championship of some sort compared to Miles.

I did read up on him, and I don't think he is the best choice especially with a one million dollar buyout.

 

just because lsu could do better. i'm tired of hearing "hes like saban was in 99" because that was 1999, its now 2005 and lsu is establishing itself as an elite program. my wife once asked me why i get soo emotional or mad when lsu loses(not just in the past 5 years) and i told her success breeds success. to be an elite program you have to do something special to attract the top recruits in the country. just look at usc and ou, when stoops and carrol went there they didn't rank so high in recruiting each year until they started winning(that special thing i was talking about). look at their recruiting now, they are winning and the top players want to go there. if miles is such a great coach why hasn't his name been mentioned by other top teams that were looking for a head coach?

 

I usually go along with you, Red ... but not today ... You're fullo****

As for LSU's facilities ... this guy knows what he's getting

1. An experienced head coach with a winning record ... 28-21 SUX bigtime, Red ... wake up and smell the coffee ... 57% winning percentage in that cream puff two team conference ... you're shoveling **** here, Red. It just won't wash :dis:

2. From a team in the upper tier of a BCS conference ... :dis: ... not impressed one iota with this program

3. A proven recruiter ... yeah, where's the defense ... Can you say Mediocre ... and that's a stretch ... Recruiting is my business ... not impressed ONE ****ING BIT ... Find OSU in the Top 10 once during this guy's tenure ... BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLL****TTTTTTTTT :dis:

4. A championship winner ... :lol: ... had his azz handed to him in the latest bowl ... absolutely pathetic

5. Not Tommy Tuberville ... you got one right, Red :thumb:


LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKY, LOOOOOOOOOOOKY ... see what OSU has done the past 4 years ...

Don't believe me ... look for yourself :dis: ... As always, I provide proof

http://www.collegefootballnews.com/Big_12/2004_Pages/Oklahoma_State.htm

2004 was par for his course ... 7 & 5 record ... This guy is a small step down from Houston Nutt ...

Just look at the bowl record :dis:

AND THIS IS A ****ING DISASTER IN THE MAKING FOR LSU

... Quick, somebody get this clown drunk and get him to a jiggle joint

... we need to "PRICE" his azz out of Tigertown before he lands

Just say Neaux to Miles

:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

 

Ok, this is getting out of hand. I admit to posting a sarcastic post comparing Miles to Sergeant Carter on Gomer Pyle, hey, might as well poke some gentle fun. But "getting the guy drunk, and Pricing his az out of town??" Wow, that's pretty hardcore. It's obvious that Les Miles will be our new head coach. He is a solid, if underwhelming, choice. He will need everyone's support in the LSU community. He will have mine. This is a done deal, so everyone needs to get on board with it. I agree the search was handled poorly, I agree Skip foolishly raised expectations with his public statements. Miles is a good coach, he is a good guy, and will do a good job. Give the guy a chance, let's see what he says in the press conference, let's see how he recruits, let's see what kind of staff he pulls together.

The truth is, DiNardo was a good guy, actually, a good coach, probably a "nicer" person than Saban, but he made very poor hires. He had 2 pretty good coordinators (Watts, Reese) but did not adequately replace them when they left. Saban had a lot of comings and goings on his staff (reportedly b/c he was such an SOB with them) but he always found a great replacement. If Miles is the kind of guy who looks for innovation in his staff hires, and doesn't just hire guys he's worked with, we will be OK.