Impromptu Poll: Was Miles Offered the Job?
Whether or not it's my naivete, or sense of pride that no Michigan Man would turn down the opportunity to return, I still do not believe reports that DB offered Miles the job. Even though they are former teammates and Miles is a higher-profile Michigan Man name, I think with all the smoke around Les about potential minor violations and other general shenanigans would have kept him from doing so:
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/16/miles-turned-down-m…
In any event, I think we're going to be better off, but just curious to hear what others think of these reports?
January 16th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
Does it matter?
January 16th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
But neither does 90% of the other conjecture on the boards. I am simply curious to hear other opinions.
If you don't care then why waste your keystrokes?
January 16th, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^
is "All In" for whomever is Michigan's Head Football Coach. It's all about loyalty and fidelity with Bando. It's just the kind of guy he is. The team, the team, the team.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
And actually accepted.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
What I'm reeeally curious about is his method of travel. All this flight tracking and discussion of Hoke's wee-hour travel schedule has blinded us to the most pressing question of all--and one that's been right under our noses all along: Did Brady Hoke actually walk to Michigan?? I mean, he's mentioned it jokingly and as a means of emphasizing his passion for Michigan and his desire for the job, but clearly this was just a means of throwing us off the trail, right?
January 16th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
Harbaugh yes, Miles no. YMMV.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:46 PM ^
I am not sure Harbaugh was offered either. I am sure DB approached him i.e., interest in the position and he was told...I am interested in an NFL offer. DB was pretty emphatic during his presser that Harbaugh had NFL aspirations.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
Who gives a shit? We have our man. And I'm sure if Miles had an eighth of the passion that Hoke has for Michigan he'd be actually offered.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
not by brandon, but I am sure money and other expectations were discussed for him to become UM's HC
January 16th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
IIRC, LSU's AD was less than truthful when, during the LM dance, he said that he'd not been contacted by Michigan. IMO, this is an attempt to garner more support for his coach from the LSU nation.
January 16th, 2011 at 2:02 PM ^
it's working too; TD is loving him right now
Aren't we lucky!!
if this is true folks need to jump on the CLM bus and stay on it for good
Damn, I wonder what number they would have had to hit to get him to go. 6? 7? Goddamnit, I love Les Miles.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^
It's all a big dance of sending messages back and forth while maintaining plausible deniability. Whether he was offered the job is a grey area and there will never be a definitive answer...as per the parties' intentions.
Doesn't matter at this point...Hoke is the coach.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^
January 16th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^
my legs for this?.......oh wait ignore this post - that information isn't supposed to get out.
Anyway- I think Harbaugh was the obvious first choice, after that I am not sure how much DB wanted Miles. I suspect he did but it has been reported that it was never offered. If true -and I have no reason to believe it is false - we should all be happy for Hoke and pray for the best.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:50 PM ^
Great way to start a Sunday morning with visions Charlie scraping hair from his voluptuous thighs. I would pay you back but I can't think of anything worse.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
...but I find it hard to believe that only Hoke was offered the job.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:27 PM ^
If Miles didn't want the job, why did he agree to talk to DB? He was either using it for leverage (for some contract talks, whether it be a raise or security by not being able to get canned after an 8 win season) or he was interested in the job and wasn't offered. DB interviewed several people (taking him at his word) but only offered it to Hoke. The question is, do you talk money with big name candidates before offering the job to avoid an embarrassing/contentious situation? I would think that numbers would be discussed before an official offer is tendered.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:30 PM ^
between Brandon and MIles. They have known each other for years and were team mates.
Brandon needed to interview a high profile file coach to placate the Michigan fan base and Miles needed to get LSU to extend his contract set to expire in 2012. Both accomplish their objective with the sham interview.
Miles was extended for an additional five years and Brandon satisfied those who wanted him to seek out a prominent coach. Neither Miles or Brandon believed a deal was remotely possible.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:47 PM ^
Probably had a good time. Check out some of the good Baton Rouge restaurants, pound back some shots...just two bros, enjoying themselves with an occasional foray into football.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
Miles has to know the Carr-tel would have made his life even more miserable than they made RR's while he was in Ann Arbor, due to the, uh, circumstances behind the Gary Moeller incident. I"m guessing that Miles saw how powerful they still are and said, "thanks, but no thanks." Sounds reasonable to me.
I can't really blame him, either. Until the Carr-tel is neutralized for good and no longer has the power to get coaches fired or make their lives in Ann Arbor miserable, any outsider would be a fool to take the Michigan job.
I hope Hoke can make it all a moot point.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
January 16th, 2011 at 12:52 PM ^
The Michigan job is a death-trap for non-squeaky clean Michigan Men as long as we have a deeply entrenched cadre of NFL stars and disgruntled former coaches determined to put their mark on the program. To Michigan's credit, we did produce a lot of NFL stars over the years--I'm not saying it like it's a bad thing; it's a mixed blessing for the program itself.
Hopefully the (unofficial) powers-that-be in the AD can give our team some, ahem, "helpful pointers" before big games instead of meddling in internal affairs all the time.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
I still think the Miles flirtation was designed to appease that particular portion of the fanbase who was clamoring for Miles.
Do I actually think Les turned down more money from us to remain LSU coach? Not a chance in hell.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^
aaamichfan has hit it right on the head.
January 16th, 2011 at 1:23 PM ^
I think both the Harbaugh and Miles flirtation was designed to appease that portion of the fanbase that wanted a HC with actual sustained real life HC sucess under his belt.
When that plan didn't work out.........well........here we are.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
What a bunch of High School shit. The Michigan I remember growing up is a distant memory.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:47 PM ^
Bo was furious at Illinois when they fired Moeller after only giving him 5 years to prove himself and IMHO he would have been furious in the case of RR as well.
Not to mention, certain newspaper 'journalists' would have been taken to task for their 'journalism' publicly and without mercy.
January 16th, 2011 at 4:58 PM ^
Actually, Illinois gave Moeller three years.
During which time he won exactly 6 games. 3 wins, 1 win, 2 wins, respectively.
On paper, hard to argue in favor of retention there. Bo was angry about the way Moeller was treated, but hardly had a leg to stand on as far as Mo's record was concerned. Didn't stop him from dropping 70 on them the next season, though.
Also, can we stop assuming what Bo "would have" done or thought in this situation?
January 16th, 2011 at 7:32 PM ^
You're right that GM was given only 3 years. Bo told him to insist on at least 4 years because it would take at least that long to turn the program around. Illinois at that time was much worse off than Michigan was when RR took over.
January 16th, 2011 at 7:55 PM ^
thinking of the 5 years Bo committed to in terms of changing some minor things about the defense when he was first hired at Michigan.
He was furious about both how he was treated AND angry about them letting him go, stating publicly on several occasions that he needed more time.....and yes he hung 70 on them the year after they let Moeller go, which would stand to reason given his opinion to that effect. Given RR had produced results superior to those of Moeller at Illinois, I think he would still be on the bandwagon for RR. I think he would would be upset about how RR was treated as well, beyond simply the length of his tenure.
If we stop speculating on this board, things are going to get awfully slow around here. This isn't wild speculation on my part, I grew up going to games in the Bo era and was fortunate enough to meet him on several occasions and idolized him, still do in many ways, although I also realize he wasn't perfect. Though I don't know him personally, it is my opinion that he would have backed RR. The player attrition certainly wouldn't have bothered him, the 'team first' focus and the work ethic being instilled would have been popular and I certainly don't think he would have let anyone from West Virginia or the Free Press tell him what to think. I also believe he would have poo-pooed the idea that a few extra minutes of stretching ever hurt anybody. You are welcome to disagree with that and I don't hold it out to be any kind of absolute truth, just my opinion, based on what I know of the man. What I find weird is that RR's scheme in terms of the read-option was a lot closer to how Bo deployed Rick Leach than anything Carr ever did, which is why I can never understand why so many old-guard alumnae think RR is so exotic in terms of philosophy.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:45 PM ^
So was Harbaugh, so was Fitzerald, so was possibly Pinkel and so were possibly other coaches.....no not likely formal offers, so indeed DB is splitting hairs when he says no other offers were made.
When it came down to it and DB was asking about who actually would take the job, people did indeed advise him 'Hoke', so again he is technically telling the truth when he says, 'everyone I talked to said Hoke was the man,' only DB is being pretty spurious in putting that out there and hoping that no one notices.
At the end of the day, it is what it is and it is pretty clear what happened. I'm sure some people will do a lot of mental gymnastics to interpret this another way and it is their right to do so.
It is also true that at this point, it doesn't matter. We are best off putting this behind us and waiting to see what Hoke does on the field, as that will be the only true indicator of right and wrong as it pertains to the hire. I hate waiting and it will be three years before we really know, but there you have it.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:53 PM ^
January 16th, 2011 at 12:54 PM ^
I'd say that just as it was obvious to many on this board that RR would likely not be retained after this past season, I'd say it was also very likely that DB wanted Harbaugh and Miles before coming to Hoke.
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<br>Why would DB say it was not acceptable to pay Michigan coaches middle of the pack salary only to hire a coach that will likely make less than RR did? Those kind of statements are made when you have certain people in mind you want to go after.
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<br>I am fine with Hoke but this report confirms my suspicions about how this process went down. What DB has been good at is spinning the heck out of this decision to make it look like this was the #1 option all along.
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<br>I see politics in his future.
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January 16th, 2011 at 1:04 PM ^
Who. Cares.
January 16th, 2011 at 1:36 PM ^
January 16th, 2011 at 2:04 PM ^
I am not sure who to believe. Les does not have the best record in terms of truthfulness. I pretty much think Les is as shady as it gets. I gave him a pass because he played under Bo. But, after the oversigning and the lies about cutting a player, who knows. Les is seriously wierd to the point that he may be smarter than any of us give him credit for. His interview after the Cotton Bowl seemed like he was gone. Now this, coming from LSU people saying he turned down more money. LM either lied to them or doesn't want to come back for many reasons. I am not suprised at all. When LM didn't comment about the offer at first when ESPN questioned him, I was thinking he is probably trying to save Michigan some embarassment. But guess what, Les is still Les. I hope he has an early loss or 2, and see how the LSU fans turn on him.
As for DB, I am not sure what to believe. I don't think he has been caught in an outright lie yet. Although, I thought it was interesting at the presser, when someone asked Hoke about the timeline, he looked at DB before answering. DB is covering something up.
January 16th, 2011 at 1:39 PM ^
Wasn't offered. And it doesn't matter either way.
January 16th, 2011 at 1:41 PM ^
Why is Les Miles still being discussed,...NBC ...Nbc who ? ....who cares that was last week's news...stay in the Bayou and hope the Ducks beat Ls WHo in the 2011 opener......
January 16th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
DB is clearly a fucking moron so Occam's Razor, imo. Hell no, he didn't offer him the job.
January 16th, 2011 at 2:07 PM ^
Because Brandon wanted a coach who would owe his fame/success to Michigan, and Miles (and Harbaugh) already had great success outside of Michigan. I know it sounds insane; a more cogent version of the argument is here:
January 16th, 2011 at 2:42 PM ^
Shocker!!
January 16th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^
I have no clue, because I wasn't in the room. That said, I do have experience in PR and have an idea how things get spun depending on the audience. The one quote that continues to stick out to me was when Brandon said, paraphrasing:
"this is about the team, about the players, there were people I interviewed where the focus was more on themselves and not the team."
My completely unfounded opinion is, spoke to Harbaugh, spoke to Miles, either wasn't what DB was really looking for after talking to them or couldn't come to mutual agreement, asked about Hoke, both agreed he would be good. We are where we are at now.