It wasn’t quite Scott Boras and A-Rod interrupting the World Series, but a good portion of the sports world found out that Les Miles was considering a move to Michigan while watching the BCS National Championship Game between Oregon and Auburn. The news has actually been in the making since LSU faced Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl Friday, and both major papers in Michigan have been tracking the story closely.
Early on Monday, The Detroit News reported that Les Miles planned to meet with Michigan to discuss their head coaching vacancy. WAFB in Baton Rouge later reported that Michigan AD Dave Brandon met with Miles at his condo nearby campus Monday evening. Miles played for Michigan in 1974 and ’75 as an offensive lineman, and later served as a graduate assistant for the program. Following a stint coaching Colorado, Miles returned to coach the offensive line at Michigan from ’87-’94.
The Mad Hatter was rumored to be a candidate for the Michigan job after Lloyd Carr was let go in 2007, but school officials chose Rich Rodriguez. There was even a moment where Miles had to issue a statement denying a Kirk Herbstreit report that Les had taken the Michigan job. Miles has continued to coach at LSU since then, leading the Tigers to two pretty good seasons and an 11-2 year this past season. Now, ESPN is reporting that Les would accept the Michigan job if it were offered to him this time around.
Miles currently makes nearly $4 million per season at LSU, where his contract runs through 2014. It would cost the Wolverines serious shekels to bring Miles aboard, and I’m not confident it would be a good move. The coach’s early success at LSU came after taking over the fully-stocked program from Nick Saban. After the Saban traces had left the program, the Tigers no longer dominated the SEC. Though Les is an extremely gutsy and creative coach, his clock management has been a liability, leading me to say LSU should fire him.
What this coaching search really shows us is how desperate Michigan is. Miles will do better than Rich Rod if he gets the job, but he won’t work any miracles.
