re: Les Miles needs to crank up the intensity....

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Miles needs to change the attitude of this program with a sense of urgency starting now, if he wants it, if he wants it so bad he can taste it.

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As some of the posters have indicated, I just wonder if Miles has the ability to 'change' or 'step up' his attitude/personality. I don't doubt he is a good man at heart, but today it's all about getting the win & for big programs like LSU, to dominate as well. I am really starting to believe Miles does not understand this- I really think his mind set is not geared to run a top 5-10 program. If LSU does not start off strong next year, Miles is going to lose what little momenteum from the BCS Championship year is left, and the perception that LSU is a 'winner' will start to fade. Thankfully, next year is off to a good start with recruits, but I still think Miles has to step up to right the ship...

Les Miles style of coaching is better suited to the NFL than the NCAA. Its an executive style of coaching and its not working at LSU. Les doesn't need to mentor players. Not his style

Miles needs to be an executive and hire coaches that can develop talent. He also doesn't have a coaching identity. We thought it was the cocky Miles after '07 but in retrospect we now realize Miles was really really lucky that year.

Miles displays zero confidence in his playmakers to win games for him. The only unit he has publicly displayed affection for the last two years was his offensive line, and we saw how that turned out.

Millions of LSU fans didn't suddenly log on to the rant and realize Miles wasn't the popular coach anymore. Two years of watching horrible coaching and decision making have done that. If you can't see it, you are in the vase minority

I have a bit of a different take on the principle at the root of this thread. I don't think it takes one particular kind of coach to win, even in college football. I even think it would be a mistake for a coach to try to imitate someone else if that is not something organic within themselves. Look at those who have won say in the last decade or so:

Saban, whose style has already been discussed in this thread and I won't rehash.

Meyer who I kind of look at as a combination snake oil salesman and television evangalilst.

Miles who when he won was "the mad hatter" taking riks left and right.

Pete Carol - kind of a California power hippy. The Phil Jackson of college football.

Mack Brown - Kind of a grandfather type with Texas cowboy swagger.

Tressel - Professor sweatervest

Then you get to people like Coker, Butch Davis and Bobby Bowden who all have their own styles.

And the other side of the equation is also true - not everybody with the "dominate" mindset is going to win championships. Heck when Hallman came on board everybody was praising him for his tough no nonsense disciplinary ways - he was the next Bear Bryant. Didn't quite work out.

I think Miles best shot would be to try to reignite the passion he had - like someone said,, the "let er rip" "have a good day" Miles where you could see in his eyes that he was pumped and kinda pissed and looked like he wanted to fight someone. At least that Miles appeared to be something that came from within.

One thing I wish he would do though is stop stuff like singing the Alma Mater after the games. That always looked kinda forced and yeah, kind nerdish.

I agree with your assessment that it would be a mistake for a coach to emulate another coach's style if it doesn't jibe with his own approach and philosophies. That being said, I also strongly believe in a person's ability to adapt and change/evolve when motivated... and I'm pretty sure Miles & Crowton feel the sting of disappointment and failure pretty strongly. If they are smart enough to man up and honestly figure out where things went wrong, then they certainly have enough talent at their disposal to do well in the coming years... but I digress.

What prompted me to reply is what I see in common with Meyer, Carroll and Saban, which is just how good they are at team-building. Building a unified sense of team is like teaching fundamentals, and all coaches at least pay lip service to it, but some are way better than others at really instilling it, and it is the teams that do this best that really excel. Case in point is De La Salle High School in California-- from the early 90s to early 2000s they won something like 150 straight football games. I remember reading about the extreme measures the coach took in making the team do things together, and as a result they were basically unbeatable for a decade.

When Meyer took over UF-- there was talk/articles about instilling toughness, instilling a strong sense of accountability to the team and a strong emphasis on team leadership, etc. (I'm sure some will try to discredit the accoutability angle with mention of all the thugs at UF, but it doesn't invalidate the point... hell, just look at any street gang-- there is a very difficult initiation, and once accepted the foremost tenet of thug life is accountability to your gang family to the point of killing for them.)

Carroll is similarly successful in team-building, but achieves it in the opposite fashion. Instead of strong discipline in the team/family, Carroll focuses on building team through having fun together. I'm sure he made his players work hard, but was also notorious for doing things like having slip-n-slide contests at practice on rainy days. As an outsider, I very much got the impression that the USC players were all on the same page and they tend to play that way.

Saban's philosophy seems more psychologically driven and is about establishing an identity of dominating your opponent. Each player starts with the fundamentals and works their arse off to build skill and confidence to impose their will on the opposing player. It seems like a disciplined little colony of fire ants that are single minded in their mission. Everyone has their role and they just need to do it, a'ight. (There's another thread titled Miles-isms, and upon reading it the first thought of what I'd like to become one was "dominate"... I suspect Rocket had the same thought, hence this thread. And I agree it has been lacking the last two years.)

I don't speak to Miles or the other coaches, because how they try to accomplish this is not apparent to me, neither in what I read in the media nor in the final product on the field.

There's a lot of ways to skin a cat. The players can succeed with swagga', or with a humble desire to simply succeed with or without the spotlight. They can have fun while doing it, or take a dedicated, workman like approach. In the end, though, they need to regain that single-minded team mentality that they will dominate; that they're LSU and if you don't respect them, they're gonna punch you in the mouth until you do... or until you quit (to paraphrase a former player & coach).

For the record, I'm neither a Miles basher or supporter. I'm not crazy about him, but wish him well. And I do have hope-- from the little bit I know about Gonzales and Wilson, I think they seem like the type that can build the esprit de corps that seems to be missing.

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who knows what happens if he tackled him..sorry but that's how i feel


We win that game, plain and simple,

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Very unlikely. They were dominating the game physically in the fourth quarter. If Jones is tackled when he makes the catch, then Ingram just runs for 8 or 10 on the next play and they keep moving the chains and eventually score anyway. Even if we somehow stop them on that possession, they simply punt, stop us with a 3-and-out, receive a punt and drive again.

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and go on to the SECCG

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How does a 6-2 team (which we would have been if we had beaten Alabama) go to the SECCG over a 7-1 team (which Alabama would have been if they had lost to LSU)?

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lose to UF

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Actually, we might have had a shot if we had been in the SECCG, but you're probably right.

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and Tim Tebow wins another NC.

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Maybe. Who knows if they get lucky like Alabama did and knock McCoy out of the game on the first series?

epbart,
that was a really good read and had some very good points.
Makes you kind of wonder if Bo Pelini's fire had alot to do with the 07 NC? You see that same fire on the sideline at Nebraska.

In a physical game such as football, coaches like Nick Saban, that bring in an aggressive, physical dominating mindset go a long ways. This isnt baseball, volleyball, basketball or dancing THIS IS FOOTBALL! You have to have a dominating mindset or gtf out of here!

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Name one player on the 2007 LSU squad that was an impact player that Les recruited.
Matt Flynn-----Saban recruit
Glenn Dorsey---Saban recruit
Early Doucet---Saban recruit
Jacob Hester---Saban recruit
Craig Steltz---Saban recruit
Curtis Taylor--Saban recruit
Darry Beckwidth-Saban recruit
Name one player on the 2009 Bama squad that was an impact player Saban recruited.
Mark Ingram---Saban recruit
Marquis Maze--Saban recruit
Terrance Cody-Saban recruit
Mark Barron---Saban recuit
Who won the Heisman?
Mark Ingram---Saban recruit

Who was being recognized for Heisman in 2007 for LSU?
Glenn Dorsey--Saban recruit

Still delusional?

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Name one player on the 2007 LSU squad that was an impact player that Les recruited

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Chad Jones
Richard Dickson
Ciron Black
Dimetrius Byrd

And all Saban's recruits got most of their coaching from Miles because it was year 3.

Name one player on the 2007 LSU squad that was an impact player that Les recruited.

Recruiting is like birthing the baby. Coaching is raising the child. Your argument is flawed from the beginning.