Has anyone else noticed the irony in this whole Les Miles to Michigan situation?

Miles endures an entire season of ridicule from a small, but vocal, group of Negatigers who want to get rid of him because he can't beat Florida or Alabama or Ole Miss. So, he beats Florida and the excuse is that Florida's program is down this year. Next, he beats Alabama who had already lost to SC, so it wasn't a "big" win. Finally, he beats a terrible Ole Miss team, but it still wasn't good enough. He loses 2 games all year, on the road, to the #1 and #8 teams in the BCS poll by 8 points or less in the 4th quarter, but now the Negatigers say that he didn't win the SEC West or the BCS National Championship, so he should be gone. Finally, he convincingly beats an average #17 BCS ranked aTm team, essentially on the road in Texas, to finish 11-2. A great season for any program (except the 2 teams in the BCS Championship game).

Now, Miles' supporters (of which I still am and will always be) say we want to keep him and he deserves a raise, if needed, to keep him or at least a contract extension or both, but Negatigers are lining up their list of potential candidates hoping Miles doesn't let the door hit him on the way out to Michigan, despite having been the most successful coach in LSU history (results don't lie).

Miles has gone from loved to hated to loved more times than I can count this past season (after NC - hated, after UT - hated, after Fla - loved, after Ala - loved, after Ark - semi-hated, after aTm - loved), but he is still loved and hated by a lot of LSU fans. He makes a lot of money (I think he deserves and earns every penny he is paid), so some people say that it comes with the job.

It amazes me that everyone cannot get behind the LSU coach, whoever it might be. Let's face it - we all want to win it all every year - players, coaches and fans. We are all riding on the same boat every year, yet we have some many fans paddling in different directions. Some of these fans are so vocal and idiotic that it filters out to the national press which makes our fan base a laughing stock to the entire football world.

Now we have some fans, who were calling for Miles' head in September, saying in January that they can't believe he might leave to go to a lower-tier program in a lower-tier conference. The SEC conference is the Mecca in College Football. LSU is one of the SEC football giants in the Mecca of College Football. Nobody should be able to hire our coach without our permission. Nobody! But the fact of the matter, if Michigan pays as much as we offer and gives Miles a 5 year guaranteed contract, he will be in the same shape financially as he is in at LSU and their fans will support him. Yes, he will be taking a risk to try to rebuild their program when he has already helped build LSU's program, but at least it will be in a family atmosphere since he was raised by their family.

I don't mind fans questioning a called pass play here or a called run play there or even questioning playing time for a particular player over another player. That is part of Monday morning quarterbacking that we enjoy. We all do it. But it is time for us to leave our - "I wish LSU Coach ____ would get fired" talk at the door and off the internet and get behind our LSU Coach, whoever it might be. That should apply in all LSU sports, not just football.

Wouldn't it be great to be known as a fan base, with one of the best and highest paid coaches in the BCS, with a team fighting for the BCS title, year in and year out, who is always behind their coach, win or lose, thick or thin, rain or shine, and who is never mentioned by any other school when they are looking for a head coach because it would be futile to even try?

College football fans are fickle, I know that. I've been an LSU fan for over 40 years - I've seen the highs and the lows, but I have always been a supporter of whoever is coaching our Purple & Gold team.

Coach Miles - we love you and we hope you stay at LSU. I only hope that it is not too late for you to realize that our fan base is in the majority and we support you.