re: Who would you replace Miles with?

Fun group of names here. Few would take this job right now. Seriously. Certainly nobody who'd be expected to actually IMPROVE the program, which seems to be the general mood of most fans.

Arkansas wanted to improve and stabilize their program, make it respectable again. That can be done; Beliema was a good choice for that. Steady, focused, has a long-range vision, and will see it through. They likely will be ranked soon enough, and stay ranked in the mid/lower teens in most seasons with him.

LSU is different. Despite the loss yesterday, LSU is still at a much higher level than Arkansas. It is ALWAYS respected, and will quite often be the highest ranked team of any group of teams, with the same record. If LSU is a 1 loss team, they are in the playoff. They will be the highest 2 loss team, etc. This is because of Les Miles and the program he has in place. If you want a coach that has shown he can win at a high percentage, always be respected nationally, and make runs at the national title .... you have that now. Les Miles is that man.

If you want to bring in a coach to wrest control of the conference from Alabama and make LSU the perennial favorite, that guy likely doesn't exist. If he does, he would have to be a genius... and such a genius wouldn't step into the SEC right now. Let's say that's Jimbo Fisher or Gary Patterson, just for fun. They want to win national titles; they are already at places that will get their shot if they take care of business. They currently face 1-2 conference contenders at most, in order to get to the playoff. They will not come into the SEC meat grinder and have to face annually: Alabama, Auburn and the flavor of the year (this year both Miss schools), just to win the West; and then play a dangerous elimination game in the SEC Championship, just to get where they already are- a shot at being 1 of 4 to play for the title. Nobody would trade down, step away from an almost sure thing to a highly contested spot. That's the dynamics of the playoff field.

It sucks to be in a rebuilding year. But that's where we are, and even while being so inconsistent and unpredictable, LSU is still a prominent and dangerous team. They beat a top 5 team in Ole Miss, and scared the absolute daylights out of Alabama in a game we absolutely should have won. That's the tease this team gives, the potential. Let them grow, and see what happens the next couple seasons.