This whole debate has become a lot like the political debate. You either love Obama/Mitt or you hate him. You hate to hear anyone riff on your candidate because, in your mind, he's the only option. The Les love/hate debate has split the fans almost evenly in two, be it justified or not.
Because it just gets really fucking old hearing the same old shit about Miles. He doesn't have this, or he does too much of that, or he can't do this, or blah blah blah. Meanwhile, he's cranking out 10-win seasons like nobody's business. Many of us come here in hopes of engaging in constructive, rational conversations about the Tigers. But instead, we have to endure the same, over-the-top reactions time and again. There's nothing wrong with wanting your football team to be great, but damn, peple act like the sky is falling at the first sign that our team might not be perfect. I think it creates an unneccesary divide in our fan base which translates into a lack of support for the team at times (see also: the stands for the Towson game). It really does seem to be infectious, and Miles is somewhat of an easy target with his unorthodox style and cool demeanor. And if it persists for too long, the man is going to get sick of it and jet. Shit, I probably would have by now. I cannot ever recall someone so successful who was so underappreciated. I understand the frustration with the way that last year ended. And honestly, Miles earned some of that misfortune with the way he treated Jarret Lee. However, it seems that people get so consumed with the uptight midget in Tuscaloser that they become totally irrational towards our own coach. Well guess what? Little nicky's time is coming. He's going to have a nervous breakdown sooner or later, and all the shitty, terrible things that he's done to people will come back to haunt him. I'm just hopeful that Les is still our coach when the time comes. People really underestimate how difficult it is to be a successful head coach in the SEC, particularly for a long period of time. Look at the mortality rate of coaches in this league since 2000. It's not pretty, and we are very fortunate to have had the stability that we do. But the raging sense of entitlement from many in our fanbase just might be the death of it.
No one cares if people are critical, hell I've been critical. I just think there is a group of unrealistic, disrespectful, miserable LSU"fans" who will never be satisfied unless the best coach we've ever had is run out of town. When it comes to those people, i would much rather get rid of them than our coach. To be honest that's one of the great things about not living in Louisiana anymore, I don't have to listen to that garbage when I go to the supermarket, or at a restaurant. Last year it was their racist bullshit about how LSU can't win with a black quarterback, or Les Miles is terrible and we need to fire him. The shit gets old.
When you go out in public to the supermarket, for example, and the subject of LSU football comes up, you hear Miles get bashed more than he gets praised? Well, this season, I experience the same things. I watch the game with groups of people at private homes, at pubs, etc., and, I do hear much more bashing of Coach Miles than praise -- and I'm talking about fellow LSU fans. I have not joined in the bashing, I merely observe. I also observe that not many fans of other elite college programs think highly of Coach Miles. I know that Michigan tried to steal him away from us, but, fans of other schools besides LSU don't think much of Coach Miles's acumen, mental agility and so forth. Yes, Coach Miles is a great guy, and, I do think the world of him, but, there are a lot of people who don't think of him as one of the very best football coaches. We can all say that these "haters" are blind and ignorant, but, there are lots of them. We will see. Coach Miles is still an active coach. His excellent record speaks for itself. Coach Miles, I hope, will always be subjected to scrutiny and criticism, especially on message boards. Now that I have praised Coach Miles and his excellent coaching record, are any of you who started this thread or agree with the OP -- Can you play "devil's advocate" in another thread and calmly discuss some valid criticism of Coach Miles? Can you think of and discuss an area or two where Coach Miles needs to improve?
Until that somehow starts to impact his W-L record, I say let 'em hate. It's usually just fueled by jealousy, anyway. They hate that someone who doesn't fit the typical football coach mold goes around slaughtering teams the way that he does. And man, if you can win at an 82% clip and still get taken lightly, then you're a genius because you can still sneak up on people. But I guarantee you that the coaches of the teams that these people you speak of support have the utmost respect and admiration for Coach Miles. Exactly. I care not one iota what everybody else thinks of our coach, so long as he's kickin' ass and takin' names. Many of us have done this many times over. But we get extremely tired of every such conversation devolving into a relentless bash fest.
How does believing that a new offensive coordinator and new o-line coach should be considered have anything to do with driving Miles out and bringing back a Curley Hallman like coach? Miles isn't going anywhere unless he stops filling the stands. It will be Miles' doing if he is driven out of town. Not a generation of hate. By your reply seems as though you have some hate in your generation.
I love Miles' win-loss record, but his coaching performance on the big stage in January will be what people will most remember until his next opportunity on such a stage.
