I have to say, this is definitely an interesting thread... comparisons to John Brady, like it was a dirty word. Talking about a head coach of an LSU sport that is 5-1, #10 with a loss to the #1 team, like he's a goner. I guess I chalk it up to rabid (but irrational) LSU fans. I also think back to when in 2007 after a NC, I made a comment on this board about how Miles won the NC with Saban's players and we'd see what he did with more years under his belt and HIS recruits (I got slammed then of course). It would seem that perhaps folks are seeing that now. But, the truth of the matter is we are somewhere in a mix of various factors, including unrealistic expectations. Anyone who thinks that Sports is a situation where a team can be PERFECT all of the time, obviously that person has not played competitive sports. There are a multitude of factors that you consider when you consider a program, a coach, a program's success. First, despite the "heartache" of all of you Tiger fans, there's the win-loss record. Not that many other programs in Miles' tenure that compare. So, you say that LSU's not "scary" any more? Well, with a subjective criteria like that, is USC "scary" anymore (they lost to UW... and we didn't, so, is Pete Carroll out now)? Ohio State lost to Purdue... and the coach that many called a football genius in years past should he be out? Oklahoma is 3-3, so I guess Bob Stoops is a bad coach and past his prime? I guess with your "scary" analogy, who would be coach worthy then... seems like you would say our good friend Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, are the cream of the crop? Funny, b/c I would have thought 99% of this board wouldn't have wanted Saban anywhere near B.R. as a coach anytime soon. It's really just kind of silly I suppose, b/c as soon as one of them stumbles, will it all of the sudden be that they're NOT scary? As I said at the beginning of the season, if folks were trying to be objective, they would have picked the Tigers generally to go 9-3 or 10-2, we seem to building the Tigers up to be something they aren't. All of the sudden we're #4 and we're supposed to beat Florida and Alabama? I'm just not sure many predicted that at all. Why? Not because of bad coaching, but because of experience, continuity of program. There were a lot of unknowns coming into the season... How would Jefferson perform as a full-time starter (and let's be honest, he had one "great" game last year against GA Tech, and games where he struggled... no one would say a sophomore in today's game of returning Heisman hopeful senior QBs would be leading us to the promised land, right?)? How would our defense work out under Chavis? What offensive identity would Miles and Crowton establish? How would our O and D lines perform, given new players on both? I think if you're an objective fan right now, you can say that LSU has actually performed well in some respects (defense has shown drastic improvement over last year, which is what we hoped for) and not so well in other respects (our new O-Line is not particularly stout, Jefferson has some growing pains, and our O has not found its groove). The season is half over and we're ONLY 5-1. It's not that Miles is "losing" his edge, it's just that in the college game, you have 18-22 year old kids playing the game and LSU had ALOT of transitioning. Florida and 'Bama are "scary" because they have experienced players and two junior/senior QBs that happen to be very good. When those guys leave, I'll bet that those teams will become "less" scary. Sorry to be the voice of reason, but you judge a team's performance and coach's performance on a body of work, at the end of the season. I think that true enough, the test before LSU is do they improve to the point where they can survive Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas. My hope is that they can. But, I think for those that somehow equate recruiting class rankings as predicting National championships, take a reality pill. They don't. Consistent recruiting, developing players, and having experienced players that have been groomed for success is the key. Next year is the year where you can have your higher expectations, and coincidentally, Urban and Nick will be searching for that new chemistry with a new bunch of players... and they'll look less scary. :geauxtige P.S. And, such is another aspect of this board... if the Tigers somehow improve and run the table, the naysayers will be the first to sing Miles praises, and if the Tigers stumble, they'll be the ones that want LSU to go out and hire the Cincinnati head coach or someone else like that!
Your comments are right on. I hope CLM get's it this year. The truth is he did a helluva job with NS's players. Maybe better than NS could have done. I still contend that in 2007 we would not have one the NC with NS here but did with CLM. We will see. I'm pullin for CLM because I do think he cares about our school.
Bradie James and Trev Faulk were Dinardo's recruits. they were sophomores in Saban's first year. Many of the great players you listed didn't get much playing time when Saban was here and were developed under CLM. Holiday was a grayshirt actually recruited by NS. The 05 commits you listed were primarily recruited by NS. Remember Satan left Dec. 24th. signing day is in Feb. CLM signed in January after Capital One bowl in which those "great" players blew coverage against Iowa at the end of the game. I bet many of the posters here were calling for NS job after that 9-3 finish following a MNC season. How dominating and scary was LSU after that 04 UGA game? This is a stupid thread. To be contemplating firing and a coach with a winning record and in the top ten. What coach would you expect to take this job? Fired or talk of being fired for winning 80% of the games and a Nat'l Championship. Good Luck finding that coach. The one who will leave a secure job to take a position where its go undefeated, win every game in a rout or thats it you're fired. So many so called fans here are so sure that disaster is coming they won't wait til the end of the season to see if it actually happens. If they are proven wrong, good luck trying to find them. We won't hear a peep from them about it. Sad is all I can say. Pathetic.
maybe i'm the last one to hear this joke but.... what's a perfect season for LSU fans? the team goes undefeated, beats every team by 40, wins the sec and national champsionship...........and the coach gets fired.
Right. It is foolish to address replacing Les Miles without realizing or addressing the fact that he is on contract through the 2012 season with a $18.75 million buyout clause. He isn't going anywhere until after 2012 unless we have some sort of clause in his contract saying we can fire him without paying that buyout, something like saying he has to get 8-win seasons every year. But usually, the way coaches contracts are negotiated are that you can only fire him for cause without paying the buyout if he does stuff like gets arrested, breaks NCAA rules, etc. Finally, the school will boost another bundle of cash available to Miles upon completion of his contract, taking the amount of the buyout from $15 million to $18.75 million if he is terminated. link: Miles: The Big Money | LSU Beat - NOLA.com
This. I think Miles will be around for a while but the more immediate thing will be Crowton. What I'm looking at is we all know the O sucked against UF. I want to see what changes were made in this 2 weeks and how we look against an Auburn D not nearly as good as UF's. If we still look lost and are still running garbage like that damn option then I think we are going to have some real problems going forward this season and that could be the end of Crowton. If the D can improve every week using a new system and the O can't using the same system then I think that says a lot about the difference between Chavis & Crowton.
And they've already matched their previous seasons win total. Getting rid of Tubby was the absolute right thing to do. Their recruiting was in shambles and Tubby was bringing them down.
