AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > December > 01 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USMiles finds home at LSU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Les Miles went to a chapel service Saturday morning and was greeted by players asking about his travel arrangements. “Sounds like you’re catching a plane Monday,” he said, repeating what had been said to him. And that speculation led to a session unprecedented in the 16 years of the SEC championship game — a pregame media briefing by a participating coach.
“It was not a press conference I wanted to have,” Miles said. “But I was embarrassed.”
That famous journalist and former Buckeye Kirk Herbstreit had reported on ESPN that Miles, a Michigan alum, would be named the Wolverines’ coach next week. “An Ohio State plot,” Miles would say much later, at his second news conference of the day, this a longer and happier one. At 8:30 Saturday night, Miles sat behind the dais at the Georgia Dome — he’d stood throughout the earlier session — as champion of the SEC and coach of the LSU Tigers now and presumably for the next decade.
“There’s no wiggle room,” Miles said. “It’s very difficult for me to go somewhere else if I never talk to anybody.”
Miles met the hastily assembled press two hours before kickoff to say he wasn’t going to Michigan, but he never quite said that. (What he said: “I have no intention of talking to anybody else.”) This prompted LSU publicists to bang out a clarification and post it on the school’s Web site, the key sentence being: “Miles will not entertain any offer from the University of Michigan.” Take that, Herbstreit.
Amid all the weirdness, Miles and his Tigers actually found time to win a championship. It wasn’t pretty or dominating — they trailed after each of the first three quarters — but it was enough for Miles to say, “Anybody who saw this game tonight will see that this is arguably the most talented team in the country.”
And it is. It has been all along. But the Tigers still haven’t played to the fullness of their gifts: They outgained Tennessee by 121 yards Saturday only to undercut themselves with nine penalties to the Vols’ zero, and not until Erik Ainge threw two rather silly fourth-quarter interceptions was LSU assured of winning.
That said, it won. For the third time in six years, LSU came to the Dome and saw a backup quarterback — Ryan Perrilloux, furthering the tradition established by Matt Mauck (2001 SEC title game) and Matt Flynn (2005 Chick-fil-A Bowl) — leave as the MVP. It won on one of the strangest days any collegiate team has known since the Louisville Cardinals learned that coach John L. Smith was leaving for Michigan State as they were losing to Marshall in the 2002 GMAC Bowl.
“You look at this team and see a team that will overcome adversity,” Miles said, though much of LSU’s was surely self-inflicted. “And we stand atop the finest conference in America.”
On Friday, Miles admitted he planned to speak with Michigan reps after the SEC title game. What happened to change his mind?
“The school here wants me to stay,” he said, and word is that LSU threw Saban-like money — upwards of $3 million per annum — as a convincer.
“We’ve got a great team. We’ve got a great recruiting class started, and I think we can finish it. I’m not talking to anybody from Michigan, and if I’m going to stay, there’s no finer time to make it known than before the championship game.”
Sure, he could’ve said as much a week ago and spared everyone the drama (and Herbstreit the indignity), but Miles surely made himself a lot of money by waiting. And Saturday night, his decision made, he sounded like a coach at peace with himself and his world.
“I certainly love Michigan,” Miles said. “I will always be a Michigan man. I will wear those colors when it comes to the Ohio-Michigan game, and I will root for the Blue. And they will eventually win that game. … But I’m not going there. It saddens me at times. I can’t be in two places at once. I’ve got a great place. I’m at home.”
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment | Categories: Mark Bradley
Comments
By a REAL Michigan MAN!
December 1, 2007 10:36 PM | Link to this
Michigan is BETTER OFF without him, GO BLUE! If money can sway you, stay you sorry a* in Lousy-ana.
By Geaux Tigers
December 1, 2007 10:47 PM | Link to this
Les has lead the Tigers to a 33-6 record over the past 3 seasons. I know alot of SEC teams that wish they could say that about their coach.
GEAUX TIGERS - 2007 SEC Champs
By Dawgs2007
December 1, 2007 10:49 PM | Link to this
I hope to GOD that LSU does not jump Georgia in the standings if #1 and #2 loses. I cannot stomach the wall to wall Les Miles coverage. The man makes me sick. The Bozos on the ABC halftime show had nothing must sunshine for LSU.
By uga fuga
December 1, 2007 11:03 PM | Link to this
Of course LSU will jump GA in the BCS, they WON ONE MORE GAME with the same amount of losses - wake the hell up UGA fans.
By Trill Phil
December 1, 2007 11:10 PM | Link to this
WVU 7, PITT 13
Mizoou 17, OU 28 4th qtr 13:50 left
We shall see Lousy-ana State, we shall see indeed….!
4 and 7 are worlds and three spaces apart, but in the BCS who knows?
One thing I do know, right now it IS great to be UGA Bulldawg!!!
By Jeez O Peas
December 1, 2007 11:16 PM | Link to this
Real Michigan Men suck. They live in a world when players wore leather helmets and the league was segregated. What kind of records do you have in the modern era?
By Get Real
December 1, 2007 11:26 PM | Link to this
Don’t even start UGA. You did not even win your OWN DIVISION! You got beat at HOME by a team that lost their last 4 games. You got DRILLED in Knoxville. You do NOT DESERVE to be in a national championship game. I am not a LSU fan…but I would put them in the game and they will do to THE Ohio State University what Florida did last year.
By ake Up Jeez O Peas
December 1, 2007 11:28 PM | Link to this
Oh yeah, and GA has how many national titles in the modern era? Have some more koolaid!
By GaDawgsrule
December 1, 2007 11:41 PM | Link to this
Why should OSU automatically be in the BCS? They have ONLY beaten one ranked team - Wisconsin! They LOST to the only other ranked BIG 10 team - Illinois. The NC should be either LSU vs GA or LSU vs USC. NO OSU! Someone give me a reason why OSU should be in the NC?
By Donna Outlaw
December 1, 2007 11:46 PM | Link to this
Whether Georgia fans can stomach it or not, they did not have what it took to make it to the game in Atlanta tonight and Les Miles has more class in his pinkie than Nick Saban and Mark R. have in all their fingers and toes combined. Ordering your team to storm the field after the first TD? Puleeze! How can anyone talk about the class of another coach after their own coach showed he had none. Les Miles had every intention of talking to Michigan AFTER the game in Atlanta as he said Friday but the media wouldn’t stop and someone (Les thinks someone from Ohio State)started telling stupid lies that he had accepted the job at Michigan and even named who he was taking with him as defensive coordinator as well as the 100% stupid lie that Nick Saban had bought a house YESTERDAY on Highland Rd. near LSU and so on. I know Les would have had the class to not talk to Michigan until after the S.E.C. Championship game was played as he said - the class Nick Saban didn’t have when he announced before LSU’s bowl game that he was leaving to coach in the NFL. Call it whining all you want but there’s not a doubt in my mind the mutts’ coach would have said things very similar to what Les said. Les Miles’ first season at LSU started with Katrina and our QB had 22 people living in his apartment most of the season, our first home game was played in Arizona, we lost to Tennessee on a Monday game two days after the other half of or state was destroyed by Hurricane Rita and Baton Rouge was affected by it as well. No one in the area had seen produce for sale in stores for 3 weeks. That year he led us to the #5 spot in the nation and last year we made it to #3. This year we are still the only team that was #1 or #2 and lost to a ranked team and we didn’t lose either of our games during regulation play. Georgia can’t say that and neither can any other team. Both losses were in triple overtime and as usual, the officials seemed determined to help us lose by making questionable calls and not making calls that should have been made. Take the game tonight - certainly LSU fans weren’t the only ones that noticed the Tennessee player take his helmet off after a play while on the field. Where was the flag? I guarantee if it had been LSU that did that, a flag woud have been thrown. And back to the beginning, Les Miles hasn’t wanted the wall to wall coverage and he finally had to angrily call an unprecedented pre-S.E.C. Championship game press conference to stop it. So blame your stomach problems on ESPN and any others that obviously were being fed a bunch of bull by their “very reliable sources” and not on Les Miles. He only speaks the truth and if you can’t handle it, too bad. Most people agreee that a team that doesn’t win their conference championship shouldn’t play for the National Championship and even Georgia felt that way until all of a sudden, that little detail might get in their way. The rest of us call that hypocritical and suggest you take some Tums. By the way, this just in, if #1 and #2 lose, which they did, the powers that be are predicting Ohio State and LSU in the National Championship. LSU didn’t stop you from making it into the gme in Atlanta so why don’t you stop your own whining and go buy a case of Tums.
By Jeez O Peas
December 1, 2007 11:50 PM | Link to this
Well, we have 2 at Florida dork… and we did not have to share them because we didn’t hide from Nebraska in the Rose Bowl to get them. Know who you’re talking to next time idiot.
By GA fan? NOT
December 1, 2007 11:55 PM | Link to this
Hey Donna, use paragrahs and what’s unusal with 22 people living in an apartment in Louisiana? That’s pretty normal. And the reason Ohio State is going to the NC game is because they have ONE FEWER loses than GA.
By B. Thenet
December 2, 2007 12:00 AM | Link to this
Too bad Bo Schembechler isn’t alive to punch Les Miles in the face.
Using his alma mater to squeeze LSU, they can keep him.
By LSU Gal
December 2, 2007 12:18 AM | Link to this
I love Les and I’m glad he’s staying. We’ll just have to wait and see who goes to the NC game. If not LSU, I hope its GA. I’d like to see another SEC team put OH in its place. They shouldn’t even be considered. FL showed that last year. OH would never survive a season in the SEC.
FEAR THE HAT!
By long winded idiot
December 2, 2007 12:23 AM | Link to this
Whether Georgia fans can stomach it or not, they did not have what it took to make it to the game in Atlanta tonight and Les Miles has more class in his pinkie than Nick Saban and Mark R. have in all their fingers and toes combined. Ordering your team to storm the field after the first TD? Puleeze! How can anyone talk about the class of another coach after their own coach showed he had none. Les Miles had every intention of talking to Michigan AFTER the game in Atlanta as he said Friday but the media wouldn’t stop and someone (Les thinks someone from Ohio State)started telling stupid lies that he had accepted the job at Michigan and even named who he was taking with him as defensive coordinator as well as the 100% stupid lie that Nick Saban had bought a house YESTERDAY on Highland Rd. near LSU and so on. I know Les would have had the class to not talk to Michigan until after the S.E.C. Championship game was played as he said - the class Nick Saban didn’t have when he announced before LSU’s bowl game that he was leaving to coach in the NFL. Call it whining all you want but there’s not a doubt in my mind the mutts’ coach would have said things very similar to what Les said. Les Miles’ first season at LSU started with Katrina and our QB had 22 people living in his apartment most of the season, our first home game was played in Arizona, we lost to Tennessee on a Monday game two days after the other half of or state was destroyed by Hurricane Rita and Baton Rouge was affected by it as well. No one in the area had seen produce for sale in stores for 3 weeks. That year he led us to the #5 spot in the nation and last year we made it to #3. This year we are still the only team that was #1 or #2 and lost to a ranked team and we didn’t lose either of our games during regulation play. Georgia can’t say that and neither can any other team. Both losses were in triple overtime and as usual, the officials seemed determined to help us lose by making questionable calls and not making calls that should have been made. Take the game tonight - certainly LSU fans weren’t the only ones that noticed the Tennessee player take his helmet off after a play while on the field. Where was the flag? I guarantee if it had been LSU that did that, a flag woud have been thrown. And back to the beginning, Les Miles hasn’t wanted the wall to wall coverage and he finally had to angrily call an unprecedented pre-S.E.C. Championship game press conference to stop it. So blame your stomach problems on ESPN and any others that obviously were being fed a bunch of bull by their “very reliable sources” and not on Les Miles. He only speaks the truth and if you can’t handle it, too bad. Most people agreee that a team that doesn’t win their conference championship shouldn’t play for the National Championship and even Georgia felt that way until all of a sudden, that little detail might get in their way. The rest of us call that hypocritical and suggest you take some Tums. By the way, this just in, if #1 and #2 lose, which they did, the powers that be are predicting Ohio State and LSU in the National Championship. LSU didn’t stop you from making it into the gme in Atlanta so why don’t you stop your own whining and go buy a case of Tums.
By Jeez is JIZ
December 2, 2007 12:33 AM | Link to this
At least at Michigan we know what a Wolverine is…remember that FLA media guide with the Croc on it instead of a Gator?
FYI, Nebraska COULDN’T go to the Rose that year, you limp wristed GaYtor fan.
By Mike
December 2, 2007 12:37 AM | Link to this
Want to talk about Michigan records? Hasn’t had a losing season since 1967. Next closest programs are Florida in 1979 and Flordia State in 1976 and Virginia Tech in 1991. So when your school can go for at least 2 decades then you can have a seat at the table but you need to keep your mouth shut. When you get to 3 decades you can talk, and when you get to 3 1/2 decades then we will give you some respect. So until then, keep showing your ingnorance by letting your mouth overload your a**.
By LSU Gal
December 2, 2007 1:04 AM | Link to this
That, Mike, is because MI is in a wussie conference compared to the SEC.
By Jeez O Peas
December 2, 2007 2:47 AM | Link to this
I’ll tell you what Jeez is Jiz. I’ll keep talking but I’ll shutup when we lose to App State you friggin loser. Quit living in the past.
By Jeez O Peas
December 2, 2007 2:52 AM | Link to this
Jeez is Jiz, the fact that Nebraska could not go to the Rose is the point. That’s why Michigan was safe there. Call me limp wristed all you want. You’re a fug king puss. You know it. I know it and everyone here knows it. Michigan sucks and that is that. Name calling is not going to change that.
By Big Ed
December 2, 2007 12:40 PM | Link to this
Michigan blew their chance to get Les Miles by asking for permission from LSU to speak with him prior to the SEC championship game. If they would have waited until today LM would not have had to play his hand with his players. Having said that Michigan is no longer a top job in the country except to “M” fans. Thanks to L. Carr’s inability to recognize that he should have retired years ago, because the game has passed him by, he embarrased Big Blue into mediocrity. Coming into the Big House and playing is no longer intimidating. Compared to an SEC game it’s like being at a funeral. As soon as “M” gets behind people shut up and hope for the best. Why would Les Mile want to leave an atmosphere like LSU. Michigan is becoming the next Colorado. They are living in the past instead of preparing for the future. Who cares how many decades you’ve had a winning season. App. State, Ohio State, Oregon, etc. sure don’t.
By Michael Moreau
December 2, 2007 1:31 PM | Link to this
i’m sitting here reading some of these comments, and wondering to all these bitter, b*** Georgia fans —What did LSU ever do to you? Get over your sad self. Maybe we will, maybe we won’t go to the BCS title game to be learned later. I sure think LSU deserves to eons more than Georgia. I have no beef with Georgia, but you all sound like jilted former beauty queens needing a hobby. Wake up and smell the present!! It’s a beautiful LSU day!!