Why the big problem with Les Miles
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.
January 8th, 2011 at 5:59 PM ^
Yes, you're right. When leadership tells you to ignore ethics and morals, you should obey and follow suit.
Heavens to Betsy, jmblue.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^
Everybody murders...
January 8th, 2011 at 2:14 PM ^
That's a real good comparison. Yeah. How about speeding. That's a bit closer in reality.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:21 PM ^
January 8th, 2011 at 1:09 PM ^
that his NCAA problems are bigger than RichRod's; that he is strongly disliked for serious moral transgressions by our most eminent "Michigan men"; that he oversigns and lies to his players about it; since he is far more corn-pone gee whiz than the country (but intelligent) coach we just fired.
But hey, I'm one of the wierdos that thinks it was nuts to fire a guy that won 3, 5, then 7 games and finally had everyone coming back and no more excuses--especially if you didn't have someone in--ahem--January. (Next year would have been the time, no?) So what do I know. . .
I'm with Brian--Hoke over Miles. The fun part is that now we're vying with Stanford for a coach, too.
Those Motown hits just keep on coming!
January 8th, 2011 at 1:33 PM ^
Hoke thinks the spread (run by the two teams in the BCS bowl this year...) is "basketball on grass". He's a smash mouth guy. Do you really want to go back to the dark ages? Both Harbaugh and Miles except creativity in their offense. I will miss Rich and was a ranting supporter of him and still am, but he did choose the D coords (2) and apparently ignored the kicking game (Bo did it too one time, 1979 I think). It was a mistake to fire RR so soon but I'm for Miles, best proven track record, M man, excellent recruiter than can open up LA to us. Insert here "SEC excuse" about his behavior there... Athletic dept needs to get over themselves re. angst against Les.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^
that I prefer even him to Miles.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:37 PM ^
... [Miles] is strongly disliked for serious moral transgressions by our most eminent "Michigan men" ...
Yes, there is a very vocal but small minority that is anti-Miles. Brian blasted Sharp and Rosenberg (and all the RR haters) because they would not even give RR a chance. And you are doing the same thing with Miles, ironically before he is even hired.
Fortunately, there is a large base of alumni and former players that support Miles (and those alumni and former players know him far better than you do). Sadly, RR did not have any such base of support at Michigan to fall back on when he needed it. I do not know if we will get Miles, but if we do I hope we can expect better from the Miles-haters than we got from Rosenberg and Sharp and the other RR-haters. But based on the comments on this board, I am not very optimistic.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:40 PM ^
was there a rational, substantiated reason to NOT support RR 3 years ago?
January 8th, 2011 at 2:04 PM ^
No one is perfect. And I am certain the RR-haters could provide you with a long list. I was a RR supporter, so you are asking the wrong person.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^
coaches and staff that can't stand him too. If we're trying to get someone to unify the department, no more the fanbase, Les isn't it.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:50 PM ^
Everybody has both their fans and their critics.
At this point, who has more of the former than the latter as far as this hire is concerned?
January 8th, 2011 at 1:56 PM ^
Thank you. The RR cultists would have you believe that RR was the only coach who arrived on campus to universal approval. Every new coach at every school faces a faction of doubters and critics. Any coach M picks will face the same degree of doubt. Maybe even more.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:15 PM ^
You should know me of all people has hardly been a Rich "cultist". He got fired because of stuff on the field though. I have no problem with having a coach who we have doubts about on the field, and giving him a chance to prove those doubts wrong. But if we have doubts about character and honesty, that's something I don't want to take a chance on. I'll take a chance on losing games, but I won't take a chance on being crooked. Rich had a lot of problems on the field, and in the PR area; but I don't legitimately think caring for his kids was one of them.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:31 PM ^
Not sure why you aren't getting posbanged for this. Definitely a +1 from me for pointing out everything I've thought about Michigan since I was about four.
Although (and this isn't some hidden RR insult) I always believed nice guys could finish first.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:20 PM ^
There isn't anyone that everyone will go YES!!! on. So it's ok to be open to a variety of candidates. That doesn't mean you can't eliminate any either. And I draw the line at the reputation of the program as one that does things the right way. I thought you did too. There may be some who have complained about every candidate, and there are problems different people have had with any candidate. I haven't. I've had a problem with one. Les. Because he doesn't do things the right way. I'll support anyone they chose, as long as they do things the right way. Saban, no. Hoke? Sure. Someone else they find with no skeletons not so in the closet (I mean, we already knew about it, but it was on ESPN!), sure. They don't have to chose "my guy". They just have to chose someone who hasn't already shown himself to be wrong for Michigan.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
No such individual exists. JH was not wanted by everyone. Nor is Hoke. When you capture the magical unicorn, let me know.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:11 PM ^
Brady Hoke. The whole department would love to have him. The fans would freak, but no one behind closed doors would.
There is not someone for everyone in anything. But you were the one claiming Miles would be fine because a lot of inside people back him. But the problem is, a lot of inside people don't. And nothing the fans said really did Rich in. Lack of support within the program could have harmed him though.
That's why frankly I feel they should go with someone who doesn't have the baggage one way or another. A Mullen or someone, that people won't feel strongly about one way or another.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:05 PM ^
Well, if you're talking Athletic Department ...
No, I was not.
The Michigan Family is much bigger than the small number of people currently in the Athletic Department. And, although I do not purport to be able to read Dave Brandon's mind, when he said one of his primary goals was to bring together the fractured Michigan family I think he meant something broader than your limited definition.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:08 PM ^
the violations and oversigning are, for me, deal killers. (No need to tell me I'm not deciding.)
January 8th, 2011 at 3:10 PM ^
You are entitled to your opinion and I respect that. But it is impossible for DB to satisfy everyone (and he more or less said this the other day during the press conference).
January 8th, 2011 at 3:39 PM ^
Just your answer. I think there's a big difference between having a problem with x's and o's (BH and my opinion) and having a problem with the moral values of the person in question.
Will I shut the fuck up and watch M play SMASHMOUTH football? Yes.
Will I sit quietly and watch the team become the win-at-all-costs-SEC-north? No.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:09 PM ^
I would have concern about a Michigan program currently on probation hiring a head coach whose current employer just had to dock his program scholarships in an attempt to ward off more severe sanctions from the NCAA. LSU basically had an assistant pay for a player. The assistant got caught and resigned, but it's certain that LSU will be facing some sort of NCAA probation for the incident.
The secondary issue is Miles' unethical behavior in oversigning players-- yes, everybody in the SEC does it, but kicking kids off the team with form letters and telling kids already on campus that they can either greyshirt or transfer is not how I want the head coach at Michigan to be treating his players. The Big Ten has stricter rules on oversigning than the SEC(which up until recently hardly had any), so some of this Miles couldn't do at Michigan, but still, it's a reason for concern.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:10 PM ^
My primary problem with him is over signing players (don't give me the SEC excuse, it's wrong to do to student athletes.)
January 8th, 2011 at 1:17 PM ^
SEC football players are also students? I'd like to compare this to the B1G and other conferences.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^
He has to play by their rules or Saban wins. Yes it is wrong and he won't do it at M
January 8th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^
that the 'everyone does it, so it is okay' argument holds no water when we were looking at too much stretching time under RR?
It seemed to me that everyone wanting to throw RR under a bus (not necessarily you) had a fairly strict code of ethics in that instance and the violations were to be taken seriously no matter the environment they occured in and seemed, at that point to be the responsibility of the HC, no matter what.
Now it seems that code is a little more flexible to some and that being unethical is okay, as long as Saban was doing it?
Anyone who came down on RR (again, not necessarily you) for Stretchgate and pointed to them as a reason for dismissal cannot legitimately argue that the current LSU sanctions and the oversigning that Miles has been a part of (especially the lying, mealy, form-letter way he went about it) don't matter.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:54 PM ^
I feel like I'm one of these people. I was a RR supporter who was very disappointed with Stretchgate, but I could never stand Miles and the things he's done. I think there's a big difference between misinterpreting something and (being too much of a coward to) look[ing] a kid in the face and saying that your promise didn't actually mean anything.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:11 PM ^
Does anyone else feel like we will have a decision from Miles one way or the other by tomorrow? LSU surely is not going to let their recruiting class go to hell like ours.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:11 PM ^
January 8th, 2011 at 1:15 PM ^
Agreed. Miles would be a big risk/okay reward.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:13 PM ^
For a lot of people I suspect this is all about RR. RR to Miles feels like a retrograde move.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:20 PM ^
to go from RR to LM
January 8th, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^
Miles has demonstrated that he can handle all three phases of the game - and he's never been accused of cronyism in his hiring.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:27 PM ^
I agree. Going from an overachieving Big East coach who tanked a big program to a MNC winning, SEC Damn Strong Football coach is a total upgrade. Aren't the RR supporters the ones that think yards mean more than points, too?
January 8th, 2011 at 1:43 PM ^
As a RR supporter, I rather go 0-12 every year with Miles as coach. Miles is a POS.
January 8th, 2011 at 3:06 PM ^
And if Miles plays by the rules while in Ann Arbor? You want the guy to go 0-12 then too?
January 8th, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^
January 8th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^
Stop with the bullshit that he's just a product of the system. He was doing shit at Oklahoma State. Look, if Miles somehow is clean at Michigan, I'll change my tune, but I wouldn't bet on it. I wish/hope Michigan goes 0-12 if Miles is the coach. If Hoke is the coach at SDSU next year, I'll be cheering for them against MICH if Miles is coach.
So within the last week, this board goes from Miles is scum to well Miles won't do that at MICH. IDC about winning when people/coaches are out there fucking with kids and I do not want a shithead who does that coaching at Michigan. Sorry I'm not a win at all cost type of guy.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:32 PM ^
Miles has demonstrated to be a complete dirtbag. Who gives a shit about the phases of the game and shit dude. The well being of student-athletes is greater than winning.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:55 PM ^
People say these things without knowing all the facts. What do you know about how he treats his players, beyond the little shreds of info that get out to the national press?
January 8th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
HAHAHA are you serious? Let me see, cutting players because he feels they are not good enough, then sending the kid a letter because he is not man enough to tell it to his face, and then lie to the media about it. Yup a great father figure Miles is.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:38 PM ^
How do we know Miles "lied to the media"? Do you automatically assume that every kid who badmouths a coach is speaking the truth?
January 8th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^
http://oversigning.com/testing/index.php/2011/01/02/otl-video/
Watch the video. Miles is all ugh, oh, uh, he didn't want to work. I cannot believe you are defending the man's actions.
January 8th, 2011 at 2:58 PM ^
Miles isn't the most articulate guy. No one's going to argue otherwise on that.
Every program has disgruntled ex-players who claim the coach did them wrong. I think it's potentially dangerous to pass judgment based on individual cases like that.
What I am arguing is simple: if Mary Sue Coleman and David Brandon are comfortable with Miles, there's no reason why we shouldn't be. And if they're not, well, then this is academic.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:14 PM ^
LSU has a huge built-in recruiting advantage, since all the best players from Louisiana go to LSU, and there are a lot of good players in Louisiana.
The question to me is if he would match his LSU recruiting at Michigan. He's 57, and he's going to have to work harder on recruiting than he ever has before. Is he up for it?
Plus all the other stuff...
January 8th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^
Not all the best in Louisiana go to LSU:
January 8th, 2011 at 1:58 PM ^
The state of Louisiana has historically been a sieve - the best players often left. Saban was the first guy in a long time to keep them home. Miles has done the same. That can only be a plus in his book. He would come here with strongly established ties to that state.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:15 PM ^
Here's what's silly about the criteria Brandon set out: there are too many.
There should be one, and it should be, "Find a great, winning coach."
Nothing else matters, or should matter, except that the coach should be able to operate within Michigan's NCAA compliance policies as he moves forward.
Miles had to coach - and win - in the SEC, and they play by different rules. Get over it if he comes here, and I'm sure he or anyone else can play by B1G rules, as he no doubt had to do when he was here under Bo and Mo.
January 8th, 2011 at 1:31 PM ^
silly ethics
silly billion dollar Michigan brand
Let us know when you reach puberty.