Miles deserves a much better exit

Published 7:08 am Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Never mind, for the moment, whether or not Les Miles deserves to be fired from LSU.

OK, he doesn’t.

But you could counter that with, right or wrong, it might be best for the proud football program for LSU and Miles to part ways after 11 mostly excellent, certainly interesting years. 

Well, maybe, but there are certainly no guarantees. Remember that. There’s not a magic wand that will suddenly beat Alabama.

But regardless of which side of the fence you’re on with Miles — or how much faith you have that athletic director Joe Alleva can make it all better — the way Alleva and LSU are handling this thing is atrocious.

No excuses.

Oh, when this thing mercifully comes to an end, Miles will get a $15 million buyout, which cancels out a lot of grief. So it’s hard to say he really deserves better.

You can take a lot of abuse for that kind of parting gift at, as Miles would say, the back end.

I also have hard time shedding tears that perhaps his large and boisterous family is having to hear and read and bear all of this speculation about their beloved head of the household.

Well, that’s the business he chose and, even for such a legendary family man, part of the trade-off for making north of $4 million per year is living with those awkward moments, even before deploying the $15 million parachute.

Yada, yada, yada.

One way or the other, Les Miles will be fine, and will laugh all the way to the bank, probably with that endearing palm-clap.

But that doesn’t make the way LSU is doing this right way to do it.

In fact, this whole thing stinks, and it has from the moment the dirty little secret started breaking last week.

And, wow, but that was quick wasn’t it?

The hot seat didn’t even have a chance to get warmed up and suddenly it was up in flames, with no hope of extinguishing the rumors.

Speaking of which, I always thought there was an unwritten rule that established coaches, barring a nasty scandal requiring immediate attention, at least had the luxury of STARTING a season on the hot seat before getting canned at the end of it.

Just a wild notion, but SEC Media Days in July would be an excellent opportunity for schools to declare their coaches hot, warm or untouchable. If they don’t want to be so crass, we in media will be happy to do it (and probably be as which-way-is-up wrong as we are on all the preseason polls we butcher).

But LSU wasn’t following that gentlemen’s agreement anyway.

Maybe it’s outdated.

Doesn’t matter. LSU and Alleva should be ashamed of themselves anyway.

Monday Miles was taking heart that in the past some media reports had been wrong about his future, specifically the ESPN reports on the morning of the 2007 SEC championship game that he was heading back to Michigan

Miles misses the point. 

This whole mess wasn’t really media-generated, even though a column in The Advocate of Baton Rouge created the instant firestorm.

The column wasn’t really an opinion — it was stated as fact that Miles was coaching for his life, as per unnamed sources obviously within the athletic department.

And if it wasn’t Alleva personally running it up the flagpole, it had to be somebody speaking for him. 

It also said the $15 million would be no problem. You don’t find that kind of cash between the couch cushions. And it wasn’t left on the administration building’s doorstep one night. 

Somebody had to go out and actively raise it.

Alleva refused comment all last week (this week too, for that matter) and that silence told you all you need to know about the accuracy of the report.

By keeping mum, he all but confirmed the rumors.

In this case, a vote of confidence for Miles wouldn’t necessarily have been a mafia kiss on the lips.

So, yes, it’s a done deal that Miles is gone. 

At first glance, perhaps, the Arkansas loss was the final straw.

But that was only three days before the Miles Watch became a public circus.

So they raised $15 million in three days?

Come on.

At the logistical least, it would appear that the Alabama loss had to put the wheels in motion, and if losing to Nick Saban becomes a firing offense there are going to be a lot of golden parachutes floating around the South.

Even an extra week seems like a pretty quick turnaround to get that kind of consensus, with pledges to write big checks, from enough wealthy boosters.

That’s a lot of money. Maybe this coup was in the works long before LSU even went to Tuscaloosa, just on the odd chance they might spot an opening.

Alleva’s public silence has basically left Miles twisting in the wind.

But, as per Miles, Alleva hasn’t even talked to Miles about it. He’s just left him, the staff and players wondering what is really up while they try to keep their minds on figuring out a way to beat Texas A&M. 

That’s no way to do business.

Alleva does owe Miles that much, whether the eventual payoff is $15 million or 15 cents.