Les Miles Continues to Gain Support from LSU Fans
There was a headline on the internet today that read “LSU has 3rd-worst spring game attendance in SEC.” I’ll admit nola.com, you had me for a second.
Is it true that LSU’s spring game attendance has been the 3rd-worst up until this point in the spring football games? Yes, it is true. Yes, that also means the only two teams with lower turnouts to their spring games thus far have been Vanderbilt (est. 3500) and Mississippi State (15,717), according to saturdaydownsouth.com. But, how does the attendance at LSU this year compare to years past?
If I told you that 21,000 fans in attendance was actually a 40% increase over the prior year’s attendance, would you believe me? Of course you wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be right. Saturdaydownsouth.com reported in 2015 the attendance for LSU’s spring game was an estimated 15,000 fans.
A 40% increase is a 40% increase, and I don’t care what that translates to numbers wise. Despite all the off season turmoil, it seemed like it was the support of Les Miles from the outside that kept him from being fired by the inside. LSU had lost by double digits to Alabama, Arkansas, and Ole Miss in consecutive games. Their national title hopes had vanished, and their Heisman hopeful running back Leonard Fournette had all but been replaced Alabama’s Derrick Henry. There wasn’t much reason to cheer in Baton Rouge as LSU prepared to play its final game of the season against Texas A&M. The only cheers we expected to hear were those of enraged fans happy to hear the rumor mill churning story after story of the ultimate demise of “soon to be former” head coach Les Miles.
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The tables turned on LSU in a way they probably didn’t imagine. Support for Les Miles seemingly came out of nowhere. Joe Schad sent a myriad of
that basically said 3 things:
- 15 million is a lot of money to pay a coach not to coach you.
- Support from the media and fans would make LSU look bad for firing a man with the resume of Les Miles.
- Les Miles had begun to be less hard-headed about his offensive strategy since talk of being fired got real.
I was skeptical the support would continue, but I believe LSU fans may be more behind Miles than they ever have before. Remember, the Mad Hatter has made a name for himself by making amazing comebacks out of seemingly impossible situations. Fake field goals, going for it on 4th and countless of other times that had LSU fans screaming “no, no, no no no noooooo…….YES!”. Maybe I’m over analyzing which is a common thing in the spring, but I believe LSU having 21,000 fans attend their spring games shows a growing support for Les Miles and LSU football. For once, it is good to see a fanbase rally around their coach and actually shout down a program’s unrealistic expectations.
