Monday, November 19, 2007

Just Listened to the Miles Press Conference- Michigan Thoughts

I just listened to the Coach Mile's press conference that he holds on Monday following the games. Of course with the resignation of Lloyd Carr this morning the "Les to Michigan" questions came up.

A few preliminary thoughts. I will be surprised if Les Miles gets the job. I think the powers that be at Michigan will have to give some sort of consideration to him. However it appears to me that the current regime at Michigan relating to the football department are "anti Miles". All year long we have heard rumors that Miles "dirty" and does things in a "non Michigan" way. Now in the SEC where recruiting is a vicious the fans broadcast every rumor about another Coaches ethics. Yet in three years there have been no such rumors about Miles. Also there appears to be none from his days at Oklahoma State. It is apparent to me that much of this is spread by the current Michigan regime that fears Miles coming up there. Why? Because Miles might just show them the door.

Loyd Carr in his press conference even gave a jab at Miles in a veiled way. This was in reference to Miles getting a Louisiana recruit that gave a "verbal to Michigan and that Les got to go to LSU. Sorry not impressed with Mr Carr. I also am very suspect at the timing. But heck I am a LSU fan and I want LES MILES TO STAY.

From his Press Conference. Let me tell you Les sounded emotional. He talked about the Ole Miss game and the the upcoming game with Arkansas. I am paraphrasing here but he said:
I'm not interested in jobs, don't want to talk about jobs, have not contacted Michigan, they have not contacted me. I love LSU. I'm happy here and my family is happy here. I am not going to get distracted by jobs, I'm not looking and I will not entertain questions about it. End of discussion".

He also got really emotional. In fact so emotional that there were very long pauses. He said he loved his team (Long Pause) and he would do nothing to hurt it. People who were there were commenting that Miles was trying to keep his composure.

A few other things. He was praising Carr and Michigan to high heaven. However he did say as to the timing of the the Carr announcement "Great Timing." I thought that he had a sound of disgust but whatever.

Sadly these questions will not die. We will just have to grin and bear it.

Here is the LSU paper that has done a quick recap of the Press Conference-
MILES: "I love this place"
LSU coach Les Miles was almost brought to tears at his weekly press luncheon today when speaking about the rumors surrounding the job opening at his alma mater, Michigan.

Miles commented on Michigan at the conclusion of his opening statement and refused to answer any additional questions about the matter."I'm not talking jobs, don't look for jobs, don't want jobs," Miles said. "I love this place."Lloyd Carr, who won a national title and five Big Ten titles in 13 seasons with the Wolverines, announced early this morning that he would step down as head coach at the conclusion of this season."As an alumnus of that school, I'm happy [Carr] was our coach," Miles said.In an ironic twist, it was year ago today that Miles had to postpone his weekly Monday press conference to attend the funeral of former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, who Miles played for and coached under at Michigan for several years.Now, once again, most of the mid-November talk around the LSU football program is about Miles and a former Michigan coach, and not on the Tigers quest for a conference and national championship.After a few moments on the Michigan topic, Miles was almost brought to tears when speaking about his current team, and said he is focused solely on LSU and Friday's home finale against Arkansas."What I'm doing is what you should do," he said. "Let it rest."I love this team, and I will not do anything to hurt it."

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