Well, I have changed my opinion of Les and it has taken a good long time. I am not wild about some areas but nothing is ever perfect and never will be. I am happy with how we finished the season and hope we continue on the same path with Les Miles (minus a certain O-coach). I just hope others can change their mindset as well.
Nice perspective:thumb: I like your points; makes a lot of sense. We just didn't have a QB until late in the season. Actually I do have my questions about Billy Gonzales as a WR coach; has he helped the WRs much this season???
What is really sad, is as much as I want Miles to stay and that thus far everything that has transpired is what was being thrown around here yesterday, I can't fault people like Cowherd for their comments. When they say we don't deserve Miles, in many ways they are right. There is a vocal majority that wants him to stay, but it is the vocal minority that is being heard loud and clear. Unfortunately for Miles there are many who have never accepted him, and no matter what he does they never will. To those people it is why he wants what he wants in his new contract. He doesn't want the vocal minority to have a say in his job tenure if he goes a season or 2 with only 8-9 wins. Every program goes thru them, yet we have a facet of our fan base that wants to get rid of the most winning coach in LSU history because he won 11 games, but didn't win them pretty. I said it all day yesterday, his wants to stay at LSU and that the booing fans wouldn’t be why he left, but could be credited for what makes him stay, and that LSU held the key. Which is why he hasn’t committed one way or the other. He wants stability and job security. If LSU gives him what he wants he will stay, if not he will go to UM if they give him what he wants. It isn’t about a raise for him, it is about an equal commitment from the school. Him giving up the opportunity to go to his alma mater to stay here, where he isn’t even wanted by some, deserves some level of commitment from the program and school. Miles, has every intention of staying at LSU, it is his team that is out there and he wants to see them reach the greatness that he knows is there. It isn’t going to be easy for UM to take him away, and he is making it that way, because he has a greater desire to stay. Of course part of that desire, and it is a big part, is because his family really likes it in BR. It is their home and they want to keep it that way. Miles, may not give a rats azz what the media thinks or that the fans are booing, but he is smart enough to know that those facets can get him fired. Not having to worry about being fired for a bad season here and there isn’t unreasonable, when you have the resume’ that Miles has at LSU.
Obviously, every coach is going to have shortcomings, and Les' have been very well-documented. But I also want to give the man credit where it is due. I thought Alleva's letter last year was bush league, at best, and I wondered what Miles' feelings truly were about that. If my boss wrote something like that about me, I certainly wouldn't feel confident. I'm not confident in Alleva. Will he give Miles what he wants?
ESPN has the audacity to rail on us for criticims of Les Miles!? Really? I mean I can understand Cowherd taking a step back, looking at Miles' record and realizing that the criticisms are unfair (including himself). BTW He just mentioned LSU indirectly as a traditional power in a piece about how recruiting decides national championships. Pick a side.
If I had to guess, I would guess that during the week a gameplan is made. Les will select a group of plays that will be used during the game. Crowton is given the freedom to call plays approved by the Head Coach. When a play is called, it's relayed down through the coach and to the QB with the clipboard, and the play is called. I think that is why you see Crowton in the booth, because if he was on the sideline he would be able to call plays without Miles having the opportunity to trump his play call. That's just my guess. I really don't have a clue.
This. This. This. NOBODY can deny this. Had it been Miles blowing that 24 point lead, it would have been a national story, and you know it. Yet Saban is still revered...even after the latest of a HISTORY of defensive meltdowns that cost his team more than just a game. Richt has finally been criticized, but NOTHING like the crap Miles takes. Meyer is a genius to most, especially in the national media. If he was still coaching, he would be considered in the top 3 best coaches...behind his Sabanness. And you know what? They ARE great coaches. Great coaches have down years and bad moments. Great coaches also tend to win an average of +/- 10 games/year in a 12 game + bowl game season. Miles is there...in the best conference in football. I will never understand the double standard to which this man is held. What if Meyer had to kick Tebow off the team in 2007? Do you really think Meyer is the same? I don't. In fact, this year PROVED that, without Tebow, even the great Urban Meyer will struggle. Could he have fixed it? Sure, probably so. But he didn't have the QB. Tebow stayed all 4 years. Why didn't Meyer have a suitable replacement ready to step in?? Dammit?? I want someone to name me a coach that has the tenure of Miles @ LSU, that doesn't have an off season or two. Also, please name me all the coaches in the country with more wins than Miles in that same span. Also, please name me all the coaches in the country with more hardware in the trophy case than Miles in that timeframe. And yes, you can even count the high school coach Peterson...who knows better than to leave Boise and step out in the real world, since everyone else that has done it has been exposed. Miles will be in the top 5-10 of any list you can come up with with that criteria. And with that said, he'd get extra points from me for the way the players feel about him, the way they'd run thru a burning building for him. That counts. I know LSU would get a lot of the recruits he brings in whether he was here or not. But the man even has the utmost respect of those on other teams that he recruited, such as Christine Micheal from A&M. - I will never wish for LSU to do poorly, but if I were neutral, it would be justice served to sit here and watch some of you disappear if LSU had to replace Miles, and wound up with another Archer/Hallman/Dinardo era. How many of you remember being SO EXCITED to go to the Indy Bowl and the Peach Bowl under Dinardo, after suffering thru Archer and Hallman?? I do, very well. And yet you think that it's out of the question for a guy to ask for some support when his worst season, he won 2/3 of the games he coached, even after having to start a green freshman at QB...because he did the right thing and removed a cancer from the locker room. Pitiful.
My younger brother told me yesterday that he and other LSU "fans" don't like Miles because of his alleged "in game blunderous decision making" and that they are willing to accept a couple more losses per season in exchange for not having a "coronary" every time they watch a Miles coached LSU game. So my question to the Miles bashers if Coach Miles decides to leave is this: "will you be willing to shut the fark up every time LSU loses but no questionable coaching decisions were made, or will you admit that you are just a bunch of whiny miserable bitches that just can't help themselves but complain about everything because you know more than everyone else?" Just curious.
Excellent post. ESPN is, to me, the driving force behind the criticism of Miles. However, I'm grown up enough to make my own conclusions. Unfortunately, many are not. That's not directed at any single poster or member of this forum...seriously. It's more directed at the uninformed/casual fan. But if you are an LSU fan that cares so much to spend time on an internet fan site, you shouldn't be so easily swayed by public opinion, IMO.
