It’s no question that LSU football is in a slump. We rode the coattails of Jeaux Burreaux in 2019 with an absolutely stacked offense full of NFL talent. Beyond that, Orgeron has not been able to coach through current seasons or recruit for future seasons. Everyone is expecting him to be fired soon. An interim HC is only a band-aid solution. So the question is, who should we be gunning for to poach for the HC position?

We may not even have to poach anyone. When were the glory days of LSU football? That’s right, the late 2000s and early 2010s. Les Miles was the coach. After being fired from LSU, he moved to Kansas. His record there is excusable because Kansas sucks and not even a quality coach could save that program from the hole it has dug itself. It’s a basketball school after all. However, there’s a window of opportunity now because Les Miles left Kansas after the 2020 season. Here we are, in 2021, with a program in need of a leader, and a leader in need of a program.

Let’s examine where we are in the season right now - 6 weeks in. At this stage of the season during Les Miles’ era, LSU averaged 5.3 wins. That’s one 4-2 start, five 5-1 starts, and four 6-0 starts. Where are we now? Orgeron has lead us to a 3-3 start, for two consecutive seasons in a row. Just for reference, the last 3-3 start occurred in the year 2000, during Nick Saban’s first season as HC for LSU. As a matter of fact, the only good Orgeron has done is the 2019 Championship Team season. But even still, how much of this success can really be attributed to Orgeron’s coaching?

Let’s take a closer look at Joe Burrow’s 2019 Championship Team. Do the names Justin Jefferson (WR), Kristian Fulton (CB), and Lloyd Cushenberry (OG) sound familiar? To any dedicated LSU fan, the answer is yes. These players were among the several on the 2019 Championship Team that were drafted into the NFL. Additionally, they were all recruited by Les Miles in 2016, which was the #2 recruiting class in all of FBS. Maybe it’s not so crazy to say that Les Miles set LSU up to win the National Championship in 2019. In fact, Les Miles’ ability to bring in and develop Championship level talent on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball paved the way for Joe Burrow to lead the team to that National Championship.

The biggest objection that I get from the other guys at the bar is that Les Miles is too old. This is nonsense. There is actually a perfect example right now in this season. Consider Iowa. They’re an extremely dominant Big 10 team, newly invigorated after knocking off Penn State in a hard-fought home game. Currently, they’re #2 in the AP poll. Who is their coach? Kirk Ferentz (66), essentially the same age as Les Miles (67). Age is nothing but a number. If anything, the extra year of experience that Les Miles has will only improve his coaching strength. Ferentz has been HC at Iowa since 1999, and therefore has a close relationship with that program. This season, we are seeing the results of that bond - a #2 AP poll team. When is the last time that was the case for LSU?* (*besides Joe Burrow’s Championship year, which in large part was influenced by Les Miles)

You guessed it, during the Les Miles era.

From this it’s clear that Les Miles represented the golden age of LSU football. He has a phenomenal winning track record, an ability to recruit prolific offensive and defensive talent, and the experience to glue it all together. He needs a team, and we need a leader. This reunification will send LSU back to the forefront of the college football scene and rebuild the respect that our program deserves. We could even use this slogan: Bring Miles Home, Get Miles Ahead (of the competition). He certainly has many more miles in the tank.

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