re: Leadership, and how most of you know nothing about it.

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{CLM} MUST learn from this. He must realize that something has to change. We had a phenomenal season, but I ask, did Les do anything all year that helped his team get more points on the board in a single game that any semi-competent collegiate football coach wouldn't have done? He certainly didn’t do anything to help his team get a first down through 30 minutes of play in the SEC Championship Game. Nor anything to help his team even get on the scoreboard in the BCS National Championship Game. I would never be as bold as to state exactly what it is he needs to do to get his team firing on cylinders all of the time. Whether he needs to take on fewer responsibilities in preparing game plans, relinquish some of the duties on the field during the games, or something entirely different, I truly do not know. I do, however, know that something needs to be done. And if we, as a fan base, allow this to be forgotten, I promise you that change will not come.

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Brilliant, timely, well-said. I appreciate and salute your logic and diplomacy, as well as your conclusion, as quoted above. Thank you.

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I don't come to a chat room to teach, I come to pontificate.

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FYP

Just because you come to a forum in an attempt to do the online equivalent of yelling your opinion louder than everyone else does not mean that everyone has the same agenda. I've been reading this forum for about the past half decade. My goal has always been to expand my knowledge on one of the most passionate interests I have. If I've been here to learn, then that means that someone must have been here to teach, albeit generally in a far less direct fashion than what I had thought you attempted (this was back when I still thought you were trying to contribute and not just preach). I'm terribly sorry that I misunderstood the implication of a thread with the subject "Leadership, and how most of you know nothing about it." It seemed as though you were trying to actually further the understanding, motivation, and abilities of CLM. In the future I will give your posts about as much credibility as I give the "National Enquirer," as you admit here that you are not trying to improve the quality of the content buried within this forum.

The part of my post that required the most thought was editing it down from 11,000 characters to 7,900. I opted to keep the actual content in, and, remove quite a few parts that were aimed more directly at you. One of the things that I omitted was that while my post was a reply to yours, I did not anticipate you actually taking anything from it because, as you stated, you already knew that you were right. My response was more so directed towards those like myself who prefer to assume that they know nothing.

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People don't want to be taught by someone with a fake name on an anonymous board.

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I don't use a fake name. I'm proud to take full responsibility for my words. However, the intent of my post was not to teach, as I haven't a smidgen more authority to do so than any other casual fan. And, once again, I think you should attempt to speak on your own behalf instead of for every member on this board.

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I'm amazed that you are "terrified" by me for acting like a grown man and giving an accomplished coaching staff the benefit of the doubt after a 13-1 season.

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My point seems to have been missed. What terrifies me is that in just three days you state that you had already stopped holding CLM responsible for the way the game was played out (note: not that we lost). The reason for this is that I assume that you love your school and its football team far more than the average student, alumnus, or fan due to the fact that you take time out of your day to post on a forum that is devoted to it. If someone who fits that description has taken less than a week to go back to fully praising CLM, then I feel certain that a huge majority of the less passionate fans will be completely over it by the time the Saints game kicks off on Saturday. What truly terrifies me is that Les Miles will not receive heat for this long enough to truly realize that some sort of change is needed.

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Look, I was just trying to bring a few good points to the board.

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You were able to start a thread that got me to think things through that I hadn't fully considered before, so your attempt has definitely helped me to see things more clearly, so kudos there at least.

P.S. Glad I could amaze you.

the betterment of the team dictated a spark (ie, pulling JJ for a series or two).

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If you want to think putting Lee in , would have changed anything...go ahead, but nothing I have seen in the last 4 seasons of play lead me to believe it would.

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I never said it would have changed a thing (in fact I stated that I thought that it wouldn't), my point was more about the fact that Miles' created a marytr in Jarret Lee and didn't have to....

This tread was about Miles' leadership not the X's and O's of the QB situation. My point is that Miles' decision not to be consistent in the handling of both QBs, was a poor leadership decision....

Well, Dustin, you have certainly put me in my place. I'm really not the pot stirring type, and if you look at my prior posts, you'll see that. You've made a ton of assumptions about me. You say that I'm only here to shout my opinions louder than everybody else. When did I say I was shouting? I'm quite calm. How do you judge whether someone's shouting in a forum like this?

I don't want to shout my opinions, but I do come on here and occasionally share them. That's what I was doing with this post. I hoped it would spark thought with those who could recieve it, but I wasn't trying to teach anyone. What I was trying to do was to call for some sort of an understanding of what coach Miles may be thinking. My main point is that, if coach Miles is the leader I think he is, he doesn't need you or me to point out what's wrong with him and the team. He's probably harder on himself than you or I could ever be. Why do you and others think that you're the one's who need to constantly slam him to get him to see what went wrong?

You seem to be a smart person, and I'm sorry if I offended you or anyone else. Thanks for at least taking me to task on the content of my post. I wish you well.

And, by the way, I don't really come here to learn. I don't really believe that most people do. The Rant, to me, is like a neighborhood bar where people go to share common passions, talk some smack, find some entertainment, and occasionally learn something worthwhile. I love it because I love LSU and I'm a fanatic about all things LSU... Even the stuff that doesn't teach me a thing. And even the folks who disagree with my opinions Are still considered my friends because they too are Tigers through And through. I'm sorry you and I see things differently, but I respect you and consider you a friend.

Not to mention Les Miles couldn't comprehend your post. His records at LSU prove he can coach, but trying to make him out to be a Tony Robbins is beyond laughable. From an outsider's perspective, I question what Lee ever did so wrong this season that he did not at least earn 1 series in his last game as an LSU Tiger. Biggest game of his career and you let him sit on the sideline watching JJ falter series after series.

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tenacious

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Honest question.

As a leader of your company, do you promote someone when they give you poor performance? Poor character? Poor decision-making?

Or, do you demote someone that exceeds expectations? Exhibits exceptional character? Seems to do everything asked of them?

Hmm....I'll try to be succinct with this in order to not completely derail the thread as I do not see a way to PM on this site (is there one?). I'm awful at conveying tone through typing, so I'll try to clear a few things up briefly as I feel a new member to any forum owes respect to those that have been around long before him.

There was no attempt to put you in your place. I'm not sure what assumptions you feel I've made aside from the yelling. That was based on my understanding of the connotation of the word "pontificate." I've always thought of it as a close synonym to "preaching," which to me is a man standing at a pulpit essentially yelling to the parishioners his "version of the facts."

As far as why I feel the need to constantly slam him, I don't really feel that I have. I actually felt that I more or less agreed with most of your points. If he hadn't shown such blind loyalty to JJ for so long now then this one mishap wouldn't have been such an issue. But it hasn't been like that at all, and it finally caught up to him on the biggest possible stage and hurt all of us in huge ways. It was insulting to me to pour as much money into my 3 days in New Orleans and to have that "team" show up. The fact is that I have never been that truly upset by it. I'm just baffled, and I don't want to ever have to worry about anything close to that sort of scenario happening again. That's why Les needs to realize just how displeased the fans are, imho. If he truly didn't see what the rest of the world saw in JJ, then he needs to allow someone else to have more of a say when coming up with the game plans. If he did see it, but felt a strong sense of loyalty to JJ, then he needs to realize the point that you made regarding the organization being more important than an individual. Either way, I feel the LSU faithful need to stay somewhat on the attack long enough that the media continues to cover it in order to let it truly resonate with CLM. By summertime, it needs to stop, and we all need to get back on board with everything our coaches and players do.

As far as my hostility or rudeness goes (that you didn't directly mention, but the implication was justly there), I was only attempting to be as hostile as I found things like, "I don't really care what most of you think because you're behaving like whiners and generally low-rent people. Get over yourselves," to be. If they weren't intended to be nearly as rude as I took them, then I can see how I came off as going on the offensive.

And ya damn right we're friends. I'd jump into a bar fight if 10 of the biggest, dumbest gumps in the whole state of Alabama started wailing on you or any of my LSU brethren even though we'd both get the hell beat out of us.

Yeah, so maybe I came off a bit too strong with a few of my comments. Guess I've seen it happen too many times on here where someone will post a pretty good thought and get mauled by a tidal wave of Rant sorriness. It happens a lot, and I just thought I'd get in a few preemptive shots. Probably a bad idea, but it wouldn't have changed anything if I'd have toned it down. I still would've gotten hammered just for claiming to be a leader. It's just the way it is.