re: Really think about Les Miles. And how amazing LSU won despite him.

Yes 2008 was the turning point. He was traumatized with all the pick sixes. Before 2008 under crowton the offense was very creative

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Les beat UF on fake fg in 2015 iirc.

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once in TS, once in the Swamp, iirc

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Les Miles record speaks for itself.

Was he perfect? Absolutely not. Is anyone?

"Well he won because it was LSU." This might be the dumbest of takes.

LSU had some dark times. Not everyone will win here.

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Les Miles existed in a time after Saban had already gotten the train rolling full speed ahead and before the insane transfer portal / NIL era that we're in today. With the skill players coming through and all of the talent in the the state that ended up in the NFL, a good-to-great coach would've had us in at least a couple more championship games and competitive in them between 2005 and 2017. It should've been LSU's golden era, but instead it was LSU's solid but not great era.

Les was very lucky to win his 1 championship in 2007, in a season where we were extremely fortunate that everyone else blew up around us to become the only 2-loss champion since forever. We were ranked #5 going into the championship weekend. I'm still proud of that season, but we've never seen one like that before or since.

Also good at
1)Digging in his ear profusely
2)Clapping like a seal
3)Picking his boogers

Seems like a bit too much anti-Miles hyperbole here in this thread...

People swear that he was awful at everything; but he won at a higher rate than anyone else. They scream "look at the talent he wasted"; well, look at the talent/lack thereof Kelly (a guy much more well thought of) has had on defense. We used to think it was impossible for LSU to have scrubs on D, but the last 2 years of Orgeron changed that, and we really haven't had the talent since. And we haven't had a truly exceptional RB since 2019, while we used to be stacked 2-3 deep at that position every year.

If nothing else, Les got talent (other than QB) on campus, and his record shows that with said talent, the basement was 8 wins.

Orgeron couldn't keep the talent coming in, and Kelly has yet to match what was here before. Sure, there's been better QBs, because we got 2 guys to transfer in and win Heismans. I guess we'll see this year if a recruit (Nussmeier) can come close to matching those guys.

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You mean the greatest college football coach of all time won more than he lost against Les? Shocker.

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Yeah, given the same talent on the field, I'm not surprised the greatest CFB head coach ever beat everyone else more often than not. But he toyed with Les more than anyone else once he got Bama going because Miles was piss poor at Xs and Os. Plenty of other coaches stole wins from Alabama with less talent than we did.

Remember when Miles decided it was a good idea to toss-dive Fournette into the teeth of the Alabama defense over and over again for 31 yards total? I remember. Rinse, wash, repeat.

I never understand the "LSU wins despite their coach" argument and especially to discredit Miles. If LSU wins despite their coaches why did 45 years pass between 1958 and 2003 without a National Championship win or appearance? Did Louisiana just suddenly become a football rich state after 2000? No it always was. Coaches created it. Saban started it and Miles carried the torch until the style of play changed. LSU doesn't just win because it is LSU...it certainly doesn't just win championships.

In the 2000s the name of the game was run the ball, play great defense, and have a mistake free quarterback. In the late 2000's to early 2010's, Les Miles was one of the best at this style of play. We won a lot of games and went to two Natty's playing this style. The problem was there was one team and one man better at it and it prevented Miles from being even more successful. In the 2010's the game change to 4-5 WRs and throwing the ball all over and running RPOs. Les Miles sucked at this and refused to adapt. Saban and Bama did. That was Miles' downfall. The scummy character stuff that has come to light is yuck but I don't get why LSU fans have such resentment for a guy that brought a 5 year stretch from 2006-2011 of 2 National Championship appearances and 10 wins a year. Nobody else has ever done that despite "LSU winning despite their coach." I know some say, "Oh we should have won 2-3 more." No...no...no we wouldn't have. Nick Saban still would've existed and the Bama dynasty still exists. Be mad at fricking Saban and Bama and come around and recognize the success of the early Miles era. I get the anger with his refusal to adopt spread offenses. But 2006-2011 were good years.

You are dead wrong. Les Miles was a very good coach who had the misfortune of constantly being compared to a very great coach. He had shortcomings that kept him from being a truly great coach - he would not modernize his offense, and he would not leave his geographic comfort zone to recruit the offensive linemen that Louisiana just did not produce enough of.

These revisionist history post are just flat out comical. Les needed to go but at the end of his tenure LSU was still winning as they were 9-3, 8-5, and 10-3 the previous three seasons. It wasn't always pretty but it was effective and LSU offenses under Les are still in the Top 10 offenses in LSU history. Les led LSU to a long and sustained peak for 10-11 years where they were a Top 5-10 team in the NCAA. Plus all coaches get carried by the talent they have, you don't think those yearly Top 3 recruiting classes haven't helped Alabama and Georgia?

Les was a flawed but good and at times very good coach for LSU for about 8 years. If he were able/willing to adapt to the modern game he would have been the coach a lot longer.