As much fun as the college football season has been this year, the coaching carousel that will follow in December and January may be even more fun to follow. There are already several jobs open from midseason firings, but there are still several more that could open the moment the regular season wraps up this week.
The most speculated job that may come open soon is LSU. Apparently some of natives down in Baton Rouge have grown restless with Les Miles despite him being pretty successful during his time down in the bayou.
Following LSU’s home loss to Arkansas we started to see more and more reports of how there was a chance that Miles could be coaching for his job during the final weeks of the season, and after another disappointing loss against Ole Miss in Oxford the smoke has continued to intensify.
Y Sources: LSU "prepared" to fire Les Miles. No decision final at this point, but it is being discussed. Story to come.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) November 23, 2015
While an opening down in Baton Rouge would make things a lot more interesting this offseason, I think if the powers that be in Louisiana fire Les Miles they will be making a pretty big mistake.
The first problem is that his buyout that sits at fifteen million dollars is pretty substantial, and would be the second largest buyout only to Charlie Weis when he was paid off by Notre Dame.
A $15M buyout for Les Miles would be the 2nd biggest buyout in college history. Charlie Weis' ND deal is believed to have been for $18.9M.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 23, 2015
That is a huge amount of money, but apparently big money boosters in Baton Rouge want Miles out bad enough that they have already have the money in hand to make their “problem” go away. While it is great that there boosters willing to pony up big money for the program, it is also unsettling that they have this kind of pull to make such a successful coach lose his job.
How successful has Miles been at LSU? Well he has a national title banner in the rafters and he played in another, two SEC championships, and he has won the SEC west three times. His tenure also includes seven seasons of ten wins or more and if LSU wins out this year (A&M and a bowl) they would end up having nine for the year.
So you would be firing one of the most successful coaches in the history of the school, and you would be firing a coach who consistently competes in the toughest conference in the country. Not only do Miles’ teams compete, he and his staff also recruit at a very high level and are piecing together an epic recruiting class for 2016.
According to this, LSU has the #1 recruiting class in the NATION for 2016. https://t.co/CiEkanOmZ8
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) November 23, 2015
It’s safe to say all of this speculation of Miles being on his way out will make it open season on the kids currently committed to the current staff. While there is a chance a good amount of the kids could end up sticking with their pledge when the new coach is hired, it gives plenty of other coaches ammo to use against LSU on the recruiting trail.
So if the rumors and speculations end up being true and Les Miles is bought out, who does LSU go after to fill the vacancy? The hot name at this time seems to be Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher, who was formerly the offensive coordinator at LSU. While I wouldn’t hate the hire for LSU, are you really upgrading over Miles if you go that direction? I have a hard time thinking of a logical replacement that would be a slam dunk upgrade over Les Miles right now, and that makes the talk of firing him even more irrational.
I will say this though, and I think my recruiting people will agree with me here. Say hypothetically that Jimbo Fisher takes the job. One of his first priorities would be retaining Ed Orgeron, Frank Wilson, and Corey Raymond because they are recruiting aces. Now imagine adding Tim Brewster to that lineup. Can you imagine having to recruit against those guys? That is downright scary to me. On top of that Jimbo has proven that he can recruit and develop quarterbacks, so I could see how that would be appealing to some down in Louisiana.
I don’t think firing Les Miles is the right move, and I think it is pretty bush league that administrators have hung him out to dry and are making him answer for all the reports swirling around him right now. That is more than likely just another sign that the decision to move on has already been made, but that doesn’t necessarily make it right. If Miles is out, he will no doubt land on his feet somewhere whether he opts to sit on the payday LSU would have to give him or someone hired him to one of the countless gigs that have opened up.
We won’t have to wait much longer to see how things play out.
If you were LSU, would keep Les Miles or would fire him?