LSU Football: Why Les Miles Won’t Make It Through 2016
Les Miles recruits like a mad man, wins 9+ games on a regular basis, is becoming beloved and yet still won’t make it through 2016 as the LSU football coach.
Living in Mississippi you hear a lot about the SEC West. Outside of Texas A&M, which has only been a part of the conference for a few years, each team’s home state borders mine. I’ve heard the tales of Bryant, Vaught, Neyland (SEC East), Holtz, Sherrill, Dietzel, Jordan and countless others. A few coaches have joined those names and challenged their position as the best in school history, but Les Miles will never challenge for best coach in the history of LSU football.
The other names in the previous paragraph all made adjustments as their careers progressed. Les Miles refusal to do so will end up costing him his job as LSU football coach before 2016 is over.
Back in the summer, I did a series on the all of the coaches in the SEC as a part of a so-called ‘Head Coach Evaluation.’ I discussed the pro’s and con’s of each subject and determined whether they should be allowed to stay or get the boot. The most telling quote in the evaluation for Miles was the following:
“Let us get the obvious out of the way first. In 10 seasons, Miles has averaged better than 10 wins a season, lost more than 4 games only twice, recruits at an elite level, and has appeared in 2 National Championship games.”
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To read more about Miles and his tenure at LSU, check out his evaluation here: SEC Head Coach Evaluation: Les Miles.
While Miles did not quite reach 10 wins this season, that can be attributed to the season opener against McNeese State being canceled. The Tigers still managed nine wins.
Miles is also recruiting at an elite level this year. LSU has the top-ranked recruiting class in both the conference and country, according to 247sports.com. The importance of elite recruiting in the SEC cannot be overstated and it appears as Les Miles is doing just fine in that category.
So let’s see. LSU should have won 10 games, has an elite recruiting class coming to join the best player in college football (Leonard Fournette) and Les Miles still almost got fired. Before I go any further, I must say I do not support any decision to fire Miles. If you’re tired of winning 9+ games a season, ask Nebraska how firing Bo Pelini worked out for them this year.
Les Miles barely made it out of 2015 as the LSU football coach, though. Fans and analysts like Booger McFarland of ESPN cite his losing streak to Alabama, the lack of big bowl appearances lately and the embarrassment of the BCS National Championship loss to Alabama as reasons to get rid of him. They also harp on the inability to develop an offense around Leonard Fournette, which even a JV coach should be able to do. I said I wouldn’t fire him, I never said I thought he was perfect.
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Miles can’t magically remedy the past and can only plan to fix LSU’s problems in 2016. So surely he would get rid of both his coordinators, right? I mean it’d be crazy, even by mad hatter standards, to keep Cam Cameron. Frankly, dude has been a bust and can’t develop a quarterback to save his job. Except his job isn’t even in jeopardy.
Instead, Les Miles is aiming to get Cameron an extension after LSU’s passing attack has finished outside the top 100 for 2 straight years. Not only that, Miles expects to keep the rest of the LSU football staff together.
What?
Nothing?
No changes to this offensive coaching staff? That is offensive by itself.
Les Miles will no longer be the LSU football coach when 2016 comes to an end. I’d also be willing to wager he won’t make it through the 2016 regular season.
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I still don’t support firing Miles. His recruiting will keep the Tigers at 9+ wins and occasionally gain them an SEC Championship. There’s too much certainty of that to get rid of Miles just yet. But I fully expect for him to be gone before 2016 is over after the offense flops due to his refusal to make changes to his coaching staff. The boosters will be livid and the insane buyout will be more manageable after a year of planning for it.
Such is life in the SEC.