Why Miles is on the hot seat

You can divide most coaches in SEC into 2 main categories
- 4 or more years tenure
- less than 4 years

4 or more years
Urban Meyer: 2 NCs and defending champion. Should be good enough for another 3 years till people wonder if Tebow is responsible for all of UF glory. Of course a win in the next two years may give him the tenure of Bobby Bowden.

Rich Brooks: Is getting kudos for the last three years. Considered some of the best in the program. Already has a coach in waiting. When your program is thrilled with a string of winning seasons, a few competitive games are enough to prolong a career. But retirement is imminent.

Steve Spurrier: Good for a few witticisms still. Now resting on Gator laurels. Clemson win may buy another year. Even SC expects more from Steve SUPERIOR than a third place in its division.

Mark Richt: Nine years as a head coach and reaching the '10 years is too long at one place' limit. No longer the up and comer. With plenty of new coordinators hired in the league, Richt is now an established coach. Revenge at Ga Tech buys him another year. He may bail on the program if NC is not in his horizon, before a restless program bails on him.

Bobby Johnson: constantly considered coach that did better with less. First year when Vanderbilt had to deal with high(er) expectations and fell short. May bail on program after the next successful season.

Les Miles: Does not have the luxury of being a coach at a rebuilding program. His inability to speak in crisp, clear sentences will continue to dampen perception as a coach. Needs a good year while Saban stumbles to separate himself as a coach on his own merit. May have two years to right the perception.

Coaches with 3 years or less: will get a pass and no one inherited a successful program
Nick Saban: has luxury of being a new coach of a program seeking former glory. Did see rumblings in his first year when he ended with a 5-game skid. Two consecutive 12-0 seasons have bought him enormous good will. Needs to win SEC championship now - If not, might get reputation for being tight in big games. Cannot perform any better with his own recruits, than with Shula's recruits. Anticipate weird dynamic when his own recruits cannot go 12-0. NC this year will keep him at the top of the heap.

Houston Nutt: Euphoria of a winning first season and high expectations of second season may cut short his honeymoon. Fourth season will be show-me-the-money year. Needs two good recruiting classes.

Bobby Petrino: still basking in Houston Nutt crisis. Though Arkansas went to SEC championship game in 2006 the program is now considered a rebuilding project. Should have two more years of relative calm before fans demand results. 2-4 losses will be acceptable over next two years.

Gene Chizik: was not a popular hire. Performed well in his first year. Iron bowl performance gives him credibility. Should have 3-4 years of luxury to build the program. Will suffer from Gus Malzan to x,y,z rumors till it happens.

Dan Mullen: best situation among new coaches. Won egg bowl when Ole Miss was a favorite. Should have 4-5 years to build the program.

Lane Kiffin: performed a lot better than most people expected. Did not get blown out by Florida or Bama. Had a pretty good recruiting class. That may not be such a good thing. Should hear rumblings if he does not perform well in year 3. Needs a big upset to quiet fans down each of the next two years.

Les Miles is the only coach in the list who took over a successful program. Despite a NC and better record than his predecessor, will be constantly compare to other coaches - in both style and substance. Needs one emphatic year over next two seasons or will always be mired in comparison. Performance over the last two years has only enlarged pool of comparison coaches. Pool1 (Meyer, Saban, Richt), Pool 2(Nutt, Petrino).

Saban, Spurrier, Petrino, and Kiffen claim to train players for NFL. Most have their NFL reputations sullied and may be NFL pariahs now. Though NFL inflates their resumes, they are also branded NFL rejects. None of the SEC coaches are hot NFL commodities now including Meyer. Miles needs a couple of good NFL drafts to burnish his NFL credentials. Chavis' history certainly helps Miles here.

What does Miles need to be off the hot seat?
- Saban to fail in yet another SEC championship game (not losing any at LSU will be past history)
- Meyer to not win SEC/NC without Tebow
- SEC championship game for LSU in the next two years with consistency in play
- Hope there are no surprise success stories around the league