Why the big problem with Les Miles

Submitted by Michigan fanatic on

I am not saying he will be hired or anything like that but I just want  to know why everyone is so set against Miles coming here if he was to be hired. I mean people act like he is a terrible coack. So he likes to eat a couple blades of grass now and then, So maybe he has a couple boneheaded clock management issues during games. I can take losing a game or two by bad clock management if we are playing in BCS bowls year after year like LSU does, not to mention making it there from a conference liek the SEC. I know he's a little cooky bt he can coach. LSU shredded Texas A&M last night. Anyways I was just wondering what the problem people have with him.

M-Wolverine

January 8th, 2011 at 1:07 PM ^

Considering there are whole threads arguing, no matter tons of posts.

But it did remind me that last night the arguments with all that "Brandon can watch over him and make sure he obeys the rules stuff" were like saying "yeah, he was a child molester before, but if he's supervised, he can babysit my kids".

mtzlblk

January 8th, 2011 at 1:19 PM ^

His over-signing of kids and cutting them after they are already on campus (in one case) and opennly lying about another, on camera, and throwing the kid under a bus as if he wasn't cutrting it in another. What is unsubstantiated about that? 

EDIT: I think I missed a /s in there somewhere

Bando Calrissian

January 8th, 2011 at 1:20 PM ^

Read the post I was responding to.  The rumors of Miles having an affair with the wife of a (widely varying) former Michigan assistant or head coach have been floated for years with ZERO concrete, substantiated proof.

My post had nothing to do with oversigning.

mtzlblk

January 8th, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^

but I think the sexual deviant thing was a /s, not a reference to the suypposed 'incident'

no neg from me BTW

FWIW - substantiated or not, the Moeller's wife thing shouldn't have any bearing on whther or not he gets the job. there are plenty of real and pertinent reasons for that, this is not one of them. 

MGoCards

January 8th, 2011 at 1:27 PM ^

With all the Michigan blogs and journalists and with all the stories being written, is nobody willing to actually go there? Doesn't anyone at The Smoking Gun or the National Enquirer care even a little bit? Is there any Deadspin scuzz money for this gambit?  If you could explain the entire past three years of Michigan football by confirming one single rumor, why not go for it? 

Granted, I appreciate sleazy, good journalism more than many. Or rather, I don't think good journalists should retreat from sleaze if the story leads them there. 

modaddy21

January 8th, 2011 at 2:57 PM ^

you know the whole story?  Nobody does.  Everyone in the SEC oversigns, he has to to stay competitive.  It is not against NCAA rules.  It might be morally wrong, but in case you didn't notice UM does not have a coaching staff, and are a laughing stock right now.  There is not a canidate left that everyone will agree on.  So relax, the man has a NC, and can recruit, and in case you didn't notice UM is running out of time.

dennisblundon

January 8th, 2011 at 1:04 PM ^

Why he is hated has nothing to do with anything you posted. He is a shady coach and has bent the rules to the point I am not even sure he knows what they are. Exploiting 17 year old kids who are making the most important decision of their lives is unforgivable in my opinion. I would rather lose than win with him.

Topher

January 8th, 2011 at 1:30 PM ^

There's also the fact his players have quoted him as saying, last night, that he's staying at LSU. I lived in Seattle when the Rick Neuheisel deal went down from Colorado to UW. Right before he signed with UW, while he was negotiating, he told the players he wasn't leaving. Call me self-righteous, but I'm not comfortable with a coach who will out and out lie to players because it's in his self interest.

I think Harbaugh did the right thing refusing to answer questions and asking for patience instead of issuing mendacious denials.

NDetroit22

January 8th, 2011 at 1:45 PM ^

that Les Miles informed his team of his intention to do anything, whether it be stay or leave.  I can almost guarantee that what he did say was the same thing he's been saying to the media since about two hours before last night's game:

"(LSU) is a wonderful place.  I love it here."

This is in no way a commitment to returning to LSU.  Considering this is what he has said REPEATEDLY for almost 24 hours now, I can only imagine it is, verbatim, what he said to his players.  If they are misinterpreting this information as a commitment to LSU, then that's their problem, but as of right now, no one is saying anything about confirmed quotes from the meeting.

Topher

January 8th, 2011 at 2:09 PM ^

 

 

On the other hand, if Miles is leaving he's apparently not only not told his players butbluntly lied to them:

Russell Shepard just told me Les Miles assured team he's coming back. Not going to Michigan. … So have many others.

He did cut that one guy with a form letter so maybe they haven't checked their mail recently.

I've made my opinion clear on this: Miles is old, has enthusiastically adopted the tao of SEC, and just saw his program take a more serious hit from the NCAA than Rodriguez did. Even if it works out in five years Michigan is going to be saddled with a coach exactly as old as Carr was when he retired and will either get to experience the extended senescence of a guy who's already wacky or experience yet another transition. I would prefer Brady Hoke.

I'm probably alone in this, I know.

UPDATE: More from LSU players:

"He said, 'They have rumors going around about (me) going to Michigan, but it's not true,'" Jefferson said. "'It's nonsense.' He said hasn't spoken to anybody, anything about Michigan. We're going to stick with that and get ready for next year." …

"He told us this is his football team and this is where he's going to be," Ridley said. "We respect our coach, and this is our coach for right now, and we're going to enjoy him as long as we can. Coach Miles is a Tiger. This is his group of guys, and he's proud of us. I think this is where he will be next year."

Seems fairly unambiguous there.

Gameboy

January 8th, 2011 at 2:28 PM ^

He said the rumors (of him leaving) are not true, which is true since he has not signed any contracts with UM. That does not mean that there aren't some feelers going back and forth.

The same goes for "he hasn't spoken to anybody" as his handlers are handling it.

Unless he says something equivalent of "I have no desire to go to UM and even if they ask, I am going to say no", I would say it is still ambiguous.

NDetroit22

January 8th, 2011 at 2:28 PM ^

but these quotes are paraphrased to the point of almost unreadability.  Is the writer quoting Jeffries quoting Miles?  Is the writer quoting Jeffries paraphrasing Miles? 

They have rumors going around about (me) going to Michigan, but it's not true.

Ok, great.  The rumor was that he had already accepted the job at Michigan.  He says nothing about not accepting the job tomorrow.

We respect our coach, and this is our coach for right now, and we're going to enjoy him as long as we can. Coach Miles is a Tiger. This is his group of guys, and he's proud of us. I think this is where he will be next year.

"For right now..."  "I think..."  Great kid, no one asked you what you think.  We want to know what he said.

Very poorly thrown together if you ask me.   Even if Miles addressed his team with these quotes, they still read as more nondenial-denials than actual denials.

jmblue

January 8th, 2011 at 1:06 PM ^

If he's hired, it will blow over.  By September, the very people who are trashing him now will be his biggest supporters.  Some fans are just manic-depressive.  Just look at how the board has reacted to Jim Harbaugh over the past six months. 

Huss

January 8th, 2011 at 1:12 PM ^

So don't speak for us.  Les Miles is a terrible human being.  And it has nothing to do with him fucking peoples wives, being a complete dumbass of a coach, and eating grass...no, those are all completely independent from why he's a horrible fit for a university trying its best to make the right, clean hire.

The man baldly lies about kicking a deserving kid off the football for no other reason except to make room for somebody else.  He's been culturally-engrained with the SEC style of oversigning a full recruiting class every cycle, and he would have no problem booting every single kid off Michigan's roster if it meant a "better, younger" prospect would commit.  He's not a Michigan Man by any measure anymore, for those of you who actually care for labels like that.  He's a sleezebag.  And that wont change.  His actions will get Michigan the death penalty in the Big Ten one day.

sarto1g

January 8th, 2011 at 1:18 PM ^

You really think he'll get michigan the death penalty?  The big ten rules are clear regarding oversigning.  You really think that the fanbase/alumni would stand for booting off seniors to make room for recruits?  Why don't you step back from the ledge and take a breath. 

Huss

January 8th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^

this rabid, wounded fanbase/alumni wouldn't turn a blind eye to any sort of infractions right now if it meant winning 11 games a year? Please.  Like most would ever give a shit if Ray Vinopal was mysteriously given a medical redshirt in order for Joe 5-star to enroll.  I do.  A lot of good Michigan fans do. 

I'm not standing over any ledge.  There's just no rational reason to bring in Les Miles with the program already on probation.  His success at a school that would be hugely successful with or without him should mean nothing.

jmblue

January 8th, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^

Funny, I don't recall LSU being "hugely successful" in the 1980s or '90s.  Saban was the first coach to win big there in ages. 

As for the ethics stuff - if Mary Sue Coleman and David Brandon are okay with the guy, who the hell is anyone else to speak otherwise?  It's their reputations on the line.

Huss

January 8th, 2011 at 1:30 PM ^

They were hugely successful.....before...Miles...was hired...right...dumbass?  This web of BS you're weaving is silly.  Les Miles took over team that established its prominence in the NCAA with a recent national title and a plethora of top-ranked recruiting classes.  He carried on Saban's "hugely successful" run at LSU.  Are you really trying to nitpick at something like this?  Try again, dude.  Noone's talking about the 80s and 90s.

BlueVoix

January 8th, 2011 at 1:56 PM ^

And Saban left LSU five years ago. They won how many games this year with just Miles' recruits? You think this guy is Coker just because he followed a successful coach in Saban when reality doesn't really vibe with that. He's a hell of a recruiter and very probably a good coach.

caliblue

January 8th, 2011 at 2:09 PM ^

The problem I have with the NEW COACH biz and Miles  is that we do not have a team anywhere near the caliber Miles had when he took over at LSU. All he had to do was not screw up. We need somebody to clean up a toxic waste dump first, then build. We're not at a Notre Dame nuclear waste dump yet ( though oddly enough making s---- out of good recruits never seems to hurt them at the next recruit-o-thon ), but mess this hire up and we will be well past that benchmark. We need somebody proven to make something out of little to nothing. Miles has not done that. His hiring would be a BIG crapshoot. We should not be afraid to take a chance on a turn around coach. Sweater vest was a fairly big leap ( though he started out with a good basic team ) at the time.

goblueinMO

January 8th, 2011 at 3:38 PM ^

She let BM set the pace and terms last time and although I don't believe RR was the wrong hire, meeting at a Denny's in Toledo is not the best way to bring in "new blood" to a school like UM.  It did not help RR that he did not know or research what he was getting into...which he didn't.

sarto1g

January 8th, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^

As a matter of fact, no, I don't think that they'll turn a blind eye.  If that were to happen, I think miles would have the fanbase breathing down his neck. 

There's no doubt that what he did was wrong, but there are a different set of standards to follow in the big ten.  He's a qualified coach on the field (no matter what LSU fans might tell you) and I for one would not be offended if he were hired.

foreverbluemaize

January 8th, 2011 at 1:58 PM ^

I understand what you are sayng but, I live in a SEC state and I can tell you that he is looked at the scumbag of the SEC. The way that he treats the kids on the team is (for lack of a better word) classless. Miles is probably the luckiest son of a b$#ch I have ever seen, and I attribute a lot of his wins to that luck. I know the old saying "I would rather be lucky than good", but I think his luck is probably about to run out. Keep in mind that at the beginnng of the season there were a lot of people in LA that wanted hm to be fired.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview10/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=5473016

Huss

January 8th, 2011 at 1:27 PM ^

You pretentious diick.  Reading some of your drivel around here makes me wonder how you even manage to put one foot in front of the other every day standing knee deep in your own bullshit.

Les Miles has a lot of blackmarks and a lot of us are aware of that.  Him becoming Michigan's coach will no expunge him.  He's still ruined enough kids lives, and many of us will never feel good about our success with him as coach.  What you think of peoples motives is completely irrelevant and ultimately just you believing your own bullshit.  Have at it, little guy.