re: Miles comes in at #2 on list of current SEC head coaches...

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I love that Coker excuse.

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I don't have any reason to make excuses for Coker. He loss control of his program from everything I hear/read and the school reacted.

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I'll stay with Miles is 1-8 against teams that have won 9 or more games the last 2 years

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I'm not clear as what you are saying, but I think I can assume you are knocking Miles in some way. Yes, 1-8 or whatever it might be is a red flag for me. I'll wait to see what happens this year before I jump from any cliffs.

BTW, are you TheBaker as well as Dennis? You kinda post like him and you responded to the post I made to him. Just wondering........

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LSU is not 1-8 the last two seasons against ranked opponents. The Tigers are 3-6 against ranked opponents the last two seasons,

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Using rankings at the end of the season (since 5-7 Auburn was in no way a top 25 team in 2008 despite the fact that they were overrated early like we were, and ditto for Georgia in 2009 except to a lesser extent), we are indeed 1-8. Georgia Tech in 2008 was probably overrated, too, but the ACC was just too weak to expose them.

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You may very well end up being right (that Miles is a mediocre coach at best), but up to this point in Miles' career at LSU, you are, however, wrong.

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Not necessarily. Just going by won/lost record without any consideration of the context or sample size is not a valid analysis of his coaching ability. Or is Hal Hunter the greatest coach in LSU history? Miles has demonstrated mediocre coaching ability for at least the last two years, and that's even if you ignore the things he did in the first three years that raised more than a few eyebrows. He has also overseen the undeniable and significant decline in the overall quality of the team from his early years to the present. This year's LSU team will enter the season with the lowest ranking of any LSU team in 10 years.

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I'll wait and see what actually happens rather than base my opinions on what I predict will happen.

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Fine, wait until the sun actually does come up in the morning before basing any opinions on your prediction that it will.

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2008 and 2009 were arguably the worst LSU teams this decade

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And was that just an irresistible act of nature, or was it the result of mediocre coaching (which includes recruiting, developing players, using them effectively, avoiding excessive attrition, etc.)?

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four of those losses came against the last two national champions, it's not as "doom and gloom" as you make it out to be.

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That still leaves five other losses. Five losses in two years is more than in any two-year span since 2002-03. That's really sad. Throw out nearly half his losses, and he's STILL performing worse in the last two years than we have in the last seven.

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If two shitty years isn't enough

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Sorry, but 3rd in the SEC, nationally ranked, and playing in a major bowl does not equate to " shitty" year for me.

It's the Top 20 my Tigers finished in and not the "shitty" 20 or the "mediocre" 20, but each to our own.

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3rd in the SEC, nationally ranked, and playing in a major bowl does not equate to " shitty" year for me.

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If the 2009 season was acceptable performance for LSU on a consistent basis, then you are laboring under the mentality of mediocrity that plagued LSU for decades, which explains your consistent defense of a mediocre coach. If it wasn't, then it was a shitty year.

Losing four games, beating no one of note, throwing two games away on stupid coaching blunders, having the 112th best offense (or defense) in the country and finishing outside the top 15 is unacceptable performance for a school with top 10 facilities, top 10 budget expenditures, top 10 fan support, a top 10 recruiting base, top 10 national visibility, top 10 historical status and a top 5 coach's salary. It is especially unacceptable as the supposed big bounce back from an even shittier season.

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It's amazing how Miles' defenders can be so completely wrong, a full 180 degrees from reality.

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Before you look down your nose at anyone for being completely wrong and a full 180 degrees from reality you should......

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See my sig quote.

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So, correct me if I'm wrong, your basic assertion is that Miles is not an elite coach, Miles has LSU in the worst position we've been relative to program status in 10 years, and that the LSU football program is in the midst of a downward spiral under Miles.

I respect your opinion, and genuinely understand why those type of opinions have manifested themselves over the course of the last two seasons given LSU's struggles and Bama's resurgence under Saban (I've been just as frustrated as any LSU fan the last two years).

All that said, I personally think your opinion is irrational given current data and I respectfully disagree. I believe Miles (and the program in general) have all the tools in place and the ability to position LSU back into SEC and national title contention in 2010 and 2011 after a very brief absence from "title" contention in 2008-2009.

I may be wrong. We may very well go 7-5 in 2010, and I may re-evaluate things and form the opinion that it's time for a change. I'm certainly not to that point yet, and I think it's silly if anyone has already reached that point, although everyone is entitled to their opinions. 2010 is a big year for Miles. 2009 was big in terms of recovering from a disasterous 2008, and in many ways, LSU was successful in doing that last season. Now it's time to get back to the top, and it will be interesting to see if Miles and this team can do that. I believe they can. Again, we shall see.

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So, correct me if I'm wrong, your basic assertion is that Miles is not an elite coach, Miles has LSU in the worst position we've been relative to program status in 10 years, and that the LSU football program is in the midst of a downward spiral under Miles.

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Yes. Exactly.

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I personally think your opinion is irrational given current data and I respectfully disagree. I believe Miles (and the program in general) have all the tools in place and the ability to position LSU back into SEC and national title contention in 2010 and 2011 after a very brief absence from "title" contention in 2008-2009.

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I don't think it's irrational. The last two years are more than ample evidence to make the opinion completely rational, even if it happens to be wrong in the end (which I sincerely hope it is).

As for having the tools in place, I don't know what you're seeing that makes you think this. The QB situation is still a complete disaster. The OL may be even worse this year than it was last year, if that's possible. The DL is small and and the LBs are nothing special. The receivers have speed and apparent talent, but still can't even seem to catch the relatively few passes our QBs manage to put in their hands. And, frankly, a head coach who can't even call a timeout when the clock is running out and we're behind, but rushes onto the field to call one when the clock is stopped for a possession change, does not bode well for any team. Not firing an OC that finished 112th in the country with top 10 talent is another really bad sign.

Of course anyone is free to believe whatever they want, but the rational opinion is the one that doesn't expect things to drastically change overnight for no reason.