DEL.ICIO.USSEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
LSU's Miles may find Michigan lure too temptingThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/30/07
Baton Rouge, La. — So, the wily interrogator, attempting to get at where Les Miles' heart really lives, asks the question another way.
Coach, do you prefer crawfish or Lake Michigan perch?
 JOE MURPHY / Getty Images | ||
| Les Miles, who is 32-6 as head coach at LSU, was a player and an assistant coach at Michigan under Bo Schembechler. | ||
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"I like 'em both. Food's never been an issue with me," he said with an ever-so-slightly-cagey smile.
Yes, but do you suck the heads (of the crawfish, which is like a Louisiana proof of residency)?
"Well, ah, not really. I've tasted that, but I'm really more after the tails," he admitted.
Ah-ha, no head-sucker is he — more important information to factor into the discussion over whether he stays in charge of LSU or spins off to the now-vacant post at his alma mater, Michigan.
As Miles comes to town this weekend, he is betraying little of what lies beyond Saturday's SEC championship game with Tennessee. He treats the subject of the Michigan job like an open manhole. When asked about it at a news conference a day after Lloyd Carr resigned from Michigan, he choked back his emotions while saying he would never do anything to hurt LSU.
But even those tears sprang from jumbled loyalties.
"That was an interesting day," Miles said. "A year ago that day I attended the funeral for Bo [Schembechler, his old coach at Michigan]. And I don't like to be a distraction to my team in any way. [The emotion] came from those two things."
First there is the little detail of Michigan actually offering him the job. The university has asked for, and received, permission to interview Miles next week, after the SEC championship game. If offered the Michigan job, then there is the matter of LSU's response. The university chancellor and the athletics director have both said they'd be open to reworking a contract that paid him $1.8 million this season.
Implied in the hypothesis that Miles, 54, would jump at a chance to coach Michigan is that it is an irresistible opportunity. But would it really be a step up?
"It's hard for us to conceive that there is a better job than here," said LSU running back Jacob Hester, a senior from Shreveport. "Especially when you come here and see the facilities we have, the players we have. We're always in the top 10 in the country, we're in the SEC championship, we always have a top recruiting class, and everybody knows about the stadium and the fans.
"Hard for me to believe there's something better out there for any coach."
About as Cajun as a polka, Miles is thought to be Michigan material down to his marrow. He played for Schembechler in the mid-'70s, and was ushered into the coaching fold by his mentor when he quickly grew tired of the real world. (Miles was a successful trucking agent after graduation).
But that thinking doesn't account for how much Miles has invested in Baton Rouge.
He has been through a lot with these people.
Replacing the imperious Nick Saban in 2005 was challenge enough. To do it just as Hurricane Katrina was rearranging the furniture took his chore to a Category 4 level. The campus became a shelter. Players didn't know the fates of their families. His schedule was turned inside out.
The poise that Miles showed through it all was an important bonding experience for the coach and his new community. "It's a shared experience that really aligns a community and a state. I was fortunate to be here. You saw the real strength of the state of Louisiana come out," Miles said.
He is a different guy than Saban, which is to say he is somewhat personable. This took a little getting used to. "Following a coach like Nick Saban was very difficult," said LSU athletics director Skip Bertman. "Saban accomplished some remarkable things. [Miles] is not like Nick Saban in personality. I'm not saying whether that's good or bad. It took people awhile to realize, 'This is our coach.' "
And those people have been through a lot with Miles.
In his Katrina-delayed first home game as the LSU coach, the Tigers lost to Tennessee in overtime after blowing a three-touchdown lead. It has been a careening ride ever since.
You think Mark Richt has shown a wild side this season? How about Miles going for it on fourth down five times against Florida — and converting each time? Or the pass into the end zone against Auburn, where he risked running out of time to kick a tying field goal, only to secure the winning touchdown? Then, running the ball four straight times against Kentucky on a final possession, failing to get a first down and suffering the first of two triple-overtime losses.
Bo's guy is anything but predictable.
"I watched him run some fake punts in my day," Miles said of the famously conservative Schembechler. "I always thought he had a very wise demeanor on the sideline and would make the call that benefited his team without regard to convention. When you're doing well, many times you don't need to make those [risky] calls."
"It isn't like he's out there flipping a coin," Bertman said. "Les is very calculating. He is a think-it-over kind of coach."
"I kind of think him going for it all, on fourth down and stuff like that, that gets fans in the game more," said linebacker Ali Highsmith. "They like for you to go for it. That kind of got them in his corner."
Miles has put together three straight double-digit-win seasons, yet should he win Saturday it will be the first of those to end with a championship. He's 11-4 against top 20-ranked opponents in three seasons at LSU and has won his two bowl games there by a combined score of 81-17. Yet, with a chance to solidify its No. 1 against unranked Arkansas last week, his team couldn't stop the Hogs.
"Until about 5:30 Friday night [a week ago], he was a rock star," joked Brandon Landry, co-owner of Walk-Ons, the restaurant/bar where Miles does his weekly radio talk show. It was during Miles' last show of the season that a group of about 75 supporters gathered on campus and marched to Walk-Ons in a parade of support for the coach. Yes, they would walk a mile for Miles, if he would stay.
Landry's place was packed that night, the crowd pressing around the coach, who had a policeman at his side for security. That was before the Arkansas game, so the mood was a little lighter.
"It was nice that they would do that, but I just kind of direct them towards the stadium and our team. I'd rather coach in anonymity and support this team and prepare it well," said Miles, who is not much into self-promotion.
With all the static about Miles going somewhere else — back home, if you will — it might get lost that he has carved out a place for himself right here.
At dinner a few nights ago, an older woman came up to Miles and told her story of relocating to Baton Rouge from New Orleans after Katrina. It was a lesson, she said. See, she told Miles, you can make anywhere a home and be very happy. With that, her brief sales pitch was done.
"I think he's going to stay," said Bertman, hopefully. The AD said he wouldn't talk to his coach seriously about the future until after the SEC championship game, after the game-planning was done.
"This guy excites people and draws teams together. I think he can coach here for a long time."
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