re: Les Miles quote going around on facebook

quote:

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Harsh words following 2002 LSU-Alabama game linger

By GLENN GUILBEAU
gguilbeau@theadvocate.com
Advocate sportswriter


It has been nearly a year, and Alabama has had two coaching changes since it happened.

But what happened between former Alabama coach Dennis Franchione and LSU coach Nick Saban at midfield of Tiger Stadium following the Crimson Tide's 31-0 victory over the Tigers last season lingers still.

The spanking by the Tide was LSU's worst shutout loss since the 1950 Sugar Bowl when Oklahoma beat LSU 35-0. Yet the epilogue and prologue to the game smarts perhaps more than the game itself.

"For them to come in here and beat us like that and for coach Franchione not to shake his (Saban's) hand, it's going to be a war out there," LSU defensive end Marquise Hill said.

No. 4 LSU (8-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) plays at Alabama (4-6, 2-4) at 6:45 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. Franchione will not be there. He left Alabama after the season to become Texas A&M's coach. He was replaced by Mike Price, who was fired for his conduct and replaced by Mike Shula.

Not only did Franchione not shake Saban's hand after the game, he said unfriendly words to him, according to witnesses.

"I'll never forget what happened after that game," said LSU punter Donnie Jones, who was near the midfield meeting. "I was actually shocked. Coach Franchione would not shake hands, and I remember thinking, 'I can't believe this.' That really disappointed me about coach Franchione. I saw the whole thing. It was totally uncalled for. He (Franchione) was really upset. I lost a lot of respect for the man."

Jones said he could not hear what was said, though.

Jason Jacobs, a Louisiana State Police trooper assigned to Franchione, heard the conversation.

"I don't remember the exact verbiage, but I know it was very mean," Jacobs said Tuesday. "I know it was very mean spirited and wasn't something I thought was very professional."

The reason Franchione, whose team had just dominated LSU 477 yards to 196 on LSU's field to move to 9-2 and 6-1 in the SEC, was upset, according to Jacobs and Saban, was a speech that Franchione believed Saban gave to his team following LSU's victory the week before at Kentucky.

A copy of the supposed speech, which included Saban ripping Alabama for committing NCAA violations and being on probation, was circulated on the Internet early in the week before the game. The posting was not signed nor did it have any attribution, yet it caused a firestorm among Franchione, Alabama's players and in the Alabama media.

The Internet posting was admitted to being completely false later in the week by its author, former LSU student Michael Ritter.

"I meant it as a joke," Ritter said in an interview Tuesday from New York, where he is a freelance writer. "I was really fired up about the Alabama game. It was really about my years of hatred for Alabama. I am a huge LSU fan. I was mad because Alabama was on probation and still had the best team in the league."

As Ritter's message backfired on the Internet, Ritter's cousin, C. Michael Ritter of Lafayette contacted him, then posted an apology on the Internet on Thursday before the game. But it was too late.

"I had no idea so many people would read what I wrote and believe it," Ritter said from New York.

"Anyone can post anything on the Internet," Jones said. "I was in the locker room after the Kentucky game, and coach Saban hardly said anything about Alabama. I couldn't believe Alabama believed it."

Alabama sports information director Larry White said Tuesday that days before the game last year he told Franchione that the speech was probably not true.

"I can't remember what he said after I told him," White said. "Sometimes with coaches, there's not a lot of dialogue."

Franchione was asked about last year's game on the Big 12 teleconference Monday.

"It was a unique week," he said. "I really haven't given it much thought. I've put it behind me."

Franchione did not return calls to Texas A&M on Tuesday. He said the week after the game last season that, "There's been information passed along to us now that would indicate that it's not true."

But on game day last year, it seemed the entire Alabama staff and players believed the speech.

"The coaching staff last year made us believe it," Alabama guard Justin Smiley told reporters Tuesday in Tuscaloosa. "Now, I'm not so sure that was the truth. I think somebody made it up."

Few Alabama players felt that way at the game.

"I just remember them being disrespectful about us before the game," LSU's Hill said. "But we didn't really pay them a lot of attention. We were like, 'What are you talking about?' What they were talking about never happened."

Saban said Alabama players were cussing him about the supposed speech during pre-game warmups. Saban said he asked an Alabama manager to ask Franchione to meet on the field before the game, but Franchione refused until after the game.

Saban said he opened the conversation at midfield after the game by saying, "Fran, you do know I didn't say any of that."

Then Franchione pointed to Saban and got close to Saban.

"I was standing right there after the game," Jacobs said. "Coach Saban had this look like, 'I can't believe what he said.'

Television replays of the meeting show Saban looking dumbfounded. He never answered Franchione, who then walked away with Jacobs.

"It was the most embarrassing situation that I've ever experienced as a coach," Saban said Monday. "For their players and their coaching staff to respond to me like they did for something that I never ever even did, it's unfortunate. I'd like to apologize, but it's hard to apologize when you didn't do anything."

Ritter did apologize to Saban a week or so after the Alabama game. Saban acknowledged Monday that he received the apology.

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