Not sure this was posted yet but I just got it via email: This email was written by a former walk on to the football team. He played under Saban and also under Miles and compares the two coaching styles, but mainly bashes Les Miles. I'll give you my feeling on the situation. I really don't like the man, but that partly has to do with how my time at LSU ended. I think he is under qualified for the job and when he got here he tried to change the way the program was run. I know as a new coach to a new program that is usually the right response but he wasn't taking over a program in shambles that needed to be revamped. The change was definitely a more player friendly environment and a program with much less discipline and strict training regiment. Saban wasn't perfect by a long shot but he could develop rough talent into a disciplined hard hitting team. Saban had his own faults, mostly him being too rigid in his pursuit of perfection. This was most evident in the 2004 season. He really pushed the team almost to a breaking point after the national championship. Along with that he also had a cupboard of young talent that he was trying to get into the right mindset building for what he set up to be a dominant team in 2005. When he left Miles stepped in and the changes began. From the get go I feel the senior leadership held that 2005 team together more than anything. Mile received credit for holding us together when more often than not seniors would have to meet with him to make sure the right message was getting across to the team. He seemed like a lost puppy after Katrina and Rita. He was brought in to be a leader and he had to learn how to be one on the go. The way you hear him in a press conference is the same way he speaks to his team. He might be one of the worst motivators and his delivery of his pregame speech runs like a bad PowerPoint, since he has his detailed notes written on a white board for him. Miles has the habit of stepping on the toes of his coordinators. He ran off Jimbo, Searles, and Pelini with his coaching style. Watching film with the man is the most frustrating thing imaginable. Under Saban he knew every assignment and player on the field at the time. He would point out great efforts and correct mistakes in about a min. per play. With miles it was almost as if it was the first time he had seen the play. He made very few comments if any and would stay on one play for 5 min. At that rate very little gets done in your limited meeting time. Most corrections would run long and then lead to longer time needed on the practice field for corrections. This would lead to long drawn out inefficient practices. His long practices wear on you as a player over the year and you can see it in the teams that miles brings to the field at the end of a long season. They look sluggish and worn out. This and his need to feel in control would drive coordinators insane. In critical situations Miles would feel the need to make the O and D calls. This led to Pelini putting his foot down after the Tenn. game in '05, after that Miles stayed out of Pelini's hair. Miles also felt the need to make changes to Jimbo's offense. Miles loves the 2 TE Big 10 power rushing sets. Which are really limited to the types of plays that can be run out of those sets and to me cause too many players to be in the box. When I left LSU Miles was recognized for his recruiting prowess. He told me that he had 6 OL coming in and that 5 of them were NFL guys. Of those 6, 1 is still with LSU due to academic and disciplinary problems. We have 0 OL depth and I don't like the replacement they found for Searles. Stud hasn't shown me the ability to develop dominant linemen. Their fundamentals are sloppy and they often get beat on simple blitzes and twists. Miles isnt much help in that category either. His O-line fundamentals are dated and offer very little help with the speed and power of SEC defenders. The challenge of any great program is to take those big time high school players and develop them into true football players. In high school it is easy to beat people on talent and size alone. In SEC football those athletes have to be molded into disciplined athletes that match their physical prowess with the technical fundamentals of the game. This combination is key to a dominant program. This is also the reason why many great programs eventually collapse. Nebraska, Tennessee, Miami all had similar issues with stud players sans discipline that led those programs to their downfall. As you can tell I have a lot of problems with him as a coach. I think he has a horse shoe up his ass and the strength of the program has held him up for a while. I really feel bad for the players that are there. There are some really good guys on that team that play their asses off I just don't feel that they are provided with the preparation they need to be successful on the field. Now I hope I'm wrong cause I really don't want to see LSU lose, but if that's what has to happen to get a true leader at the helm for LSU so be it. I think the best thing Miles could do to help this team is to let his coordinators take control of their aspects of the team and let them do what they were hired to do. Sorry the rant went on for so long but I usually have to give the PC response in public and needed to vent a bit about the situation myself. You can share what you want of my perspective just don't reference me.
whats the point Rex? there are disgruntle people in every organization, but men lie, women lie, but numbers dont.
I would like to know who this cat is. And then i would the opinion of guys like Jacob Hester, or Craig Steltz, or Glen Dorsey, Matt Flynn, or Dwayne Bowe. Not some walk on who is disgruntled because he didn't get PT.
Looks to me like one of those political chain emails people send and tell you to pass around, only this one was created by some rabid and disgruntled LSU fan. Especially since it's unknown who wrote it and when. I can tell you that the two scholarship players I've spoken to on occasion over the last couple of years have a bit higher regards for the man than that.
clearly bogus. written by a fan with all the stupid phrases most fans who hate miles use. i know because i make sure not to parrot them even though i dont like his coaching. please burn this complete lie. signed, a former student
