Les Miles the next Larry Coker?

Current LSU head football coach Les Miles greatly resembles Larry Coker, the former head football coach at the University of Miami. The similarities between the two are too great to dismiss this comparison.

Butch Davis, currently the head coach at North Carolina, was largely responsible for cleaning up the corrupt Hurricane football program. Despite a one year postseason ban and a loss of 31 scholarships,within 6 years Davis had returned Miami to national power status. His last team, the 2000 squad, finished 11-1 and was ranked #2 in the final polls. Davis then took an opportunity to head up to the NFL's Cleveland Browns.

Coker, promoted from the offensive coordinator spot, would lead the team, built by Davis, to the 2001 national championship.

Gradually, the win totals dwindled, and Coker's program became less intimidating. The Hurricanes began losing games they should win, and the program became as disorganized as it had been previous to the Davis era. Larry Coker was fired after the 2005 season in which he suffered a 40-3 loss against Les Miles and LSU in the Chik-fil-a Peach Bowl.

How does Les Miles fit into this equation? He also inherited a national power from a coach destined for a brief stint in the NFL. Saban's LSU squads gradually improved under his leadership, peaking with a national championship in 2003.

Miles took over in 2005 and would lose only two games in each of his 3 seasons, and the 2007 squad was undefeated in regulation. (The losses were both in multiple overtime games vs. Kentucky and Arkansas, respectively.) Yet, even as a national champion, the nagging questions remain. Is Miles only winning with the players Saban left him? Will Miles be another washout like Coker? Of course only time will tell.

Since many of the defensive players recruited by Saban have left LSU, the tiger defense has dropped drastically. It seems that Miles is unable to do it by himself. After last season's pitiful 8-5 record (losing 3 of the last 5 games) Miles has something to prove.

The upcoming season will go a long way toward either dampening or fueling those fires. One wonders if the gutsy playcalling will result in magic again this year, or if the brutal SEC schedule will get the best of LSU. If the Bayou Bengals can deliver another 10 or 11 win season, Miles will finally be out from under the Saban umbrella and far away from any more comparisons to Larry Coker. Come up short, and cheap LSU trucker hats will be a dime a dozen on ebay.