You knew it was coming...open letter to Les Miles

It is a most difficult day for fans, players, coaches, and administration. Letting a head coach go is never an easy thing. Especially a coach like you. While emotions may be riding high, and talk of potential coaching replacements rises from a simmer to a boil, I think it’s important to put things in perspective.

During your time as head coach, you did much for the LSU program. Not only did you serve as a first-class representative of Louisiana State University, but you also gave players and fans plenty to cheer about. What might be most memorable is the way you did it. If there is any word that could be chosen to describe LSU football over the past fifteen years, “boring” would not be on the list of nominees.

You brought to Baton Rouge a National Championship trophy….with two losses; the only team in the BCS era to do so. Which is fitting because, well, it just wouldn’t have been your style had you done it the conventional way.

But you also taught the LSU community a few things.

You taught us to trust our instincts. Not once, or thrice, but five times did you have faith that your young men could scratch and claw for a yard or two against one of the finest defensive fronts in the SEC. And you were right every single one of those five times. Tiger Stadium may never again be as loud as when Jacob Hester plowed into the end zone for a game-clinching touchdown against the Florida Gators.

You taught us to never say die. Facing a fourth-and-10, far from home, and seemingly out of luck, Jamarcus Russell bought time before heaving a prayer to Early Doucet. Not a single LSU fan in the entire country exhaled during that brief moment the ball was in flight. It was a touchdown, and it was a win. Actually, it was much more than that. It was a moment of respite and happiness for a weary people whose lives had been shattered by Hurricane Katrina. A people who would bravely push forward and rebuild what had been taken from them. That was your first game as an LSU Tiger. And I assure you that the people of Louisiana will never forget that night and your gift to them.

You taught us to take risks. When the odds would tell most coaches to kick the field goal, or to play field position and punt, you were never afraid to tell the odds to bugger off. I’m not sure just how many trick plays you had in your playbook, but it’s hard to count them all. Under you, LSU was a case study of the pearl “nothing ventured, nothing gained,” and more often than not, something was gained. A 33-29 win over Florida. A 24-21 win over Alabama. A 28-16 win over South Carolina. Truth be told, it earned you the nickname “The Mad Hatter.”

And at a time when the fortunes of SEC programs can seemingly rise and fall with the sun, you steadily kept LSU at a plateau of success which will leave the program primed for great things in the future.

But most importantly of all, the young men who donned the purple and gold under your leadership are no doubt better men for having done so. The feelings they have for you is quite evident, and there is no doubt amongst anyone – even your harshest critics – that you cared deeply about every single one of them.

I tip my hat to you, Les Miles. Geaux in peace. You did well.