A surprise turn leaves Les Miles in charge for now

Published 7:57 am Monday, November 30, 2015

BATON ROUGE — So the bizarre LSU-Les Miles Saturday time line went down something like this:

Miles walked down Stadium Drive’s Victory Hill en route to Tiger Stadium, basking in it and looking for all the world like he thought it was his final trip. 

“I was surprised,” he admitted of the even larger than usual crowds and the numerous home-made signs expressing Love for Les.

Then he became the focal point of the Senior Day exercise just before kickoff, gradually realizing it and tipping his cap. 

“I wondered first, ‘Is that for me?’ and then that Les Miles (chant) kind of reminded me of me,” he said, as usual in his own language. “I said that must be for me, so I took my hat off and I was just pleased.”

Got it.

So then there was the game — perhaps it was Texas A&M but details are fuzzy — which Miles admitted was “an imperfect fist fight,” especially on offense, but was maybe most notable for turning into a 60-minute Les Lovefest.

It was a strange crowd, alright, as, no matter how uneven the performance, the players and 101,000 fans were not going to let Miles’ final home appearance be in vain. 

The 19-7 victory didn’t clinch anything, but Miles got a carted off on bulky shoulders anyway, straight to that familiar spot in front of the band, where he locked arms with available players.

They were, off-key as per custom, belting out the alma mater, but the emotion of it looked and sounded like “Thanks for the Memories.”

Meanwhile, Brent Musburger was giving Miles a proper send-off for the SEC Network’s viewers. 

Miles told the sideline reporter, “I have enjoyed coaching this team,” and coach and players all retired to the dressing room, where the “Uncle Les” persona took over for a predictably awkward attempt at something called a “dab.”

When he left the locker room to head for his postgame interview, as far as his players knew, it was for the final time, too.

When he got to the packed press conference there had been a script change. 

Somewhere in those two or three minutes — no more — he was pulled into a side room by LSU president F. King Alexander and athletic director Joe Alleva.

It must have seemed to Miles the fugitive that after a month on the loose, the authorities had finally caught up with him and the gig was up.

But, as Miles related it, first King, then Alleva, told him “Hey, the job that you’ve been doing, you can still do it.”

You know the rest.

Alleva, apparently not much of a thespian, dropped the bombshell and then tried to put a happy face on two of the most embarrassing weeks in the athletic department’s often quirky history.

When Alleva said “I look forward to working with Coach Miles,” it was about as convincing as his canned “Geaux Tigers” that plays on the stadium video screens before games (and was booed Saturday) urging Tiger fans to be nice.

But it was Victory for Les Miles.

There are some theories out there. 

The whole coup came apart, one goes, earlier in the day when Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher told his own president that he planned to stay with the Seminoles.

Fisher was the apple of the group’s eye, and they had no Plan B, so all of sudden Miles didn’t look so bad.

Call me skeptical.

I can’t imagine that any talks with Fisher (more likely his agent) could have gotten that far yet and Fisher’s statement wouldn’t have been enough to scare them away.

Linguistic analyzers were already at work to note Fisher said he didn’t “plan” to leave, not that he couldn’t be talked into it.

Historians can note that Nick Saban, as good a reason as any for Miles’ predicament, spent his last month with the Miami Dolphins skillfully tap-dancing around questions about his future while never hinting he was headed to Alabama. 

If the whole coup fell apart for lack of a Plan B, then it’s worse than we thought.

Then ESPN reported, with way too much detail so early, that the Miles decision was made in the third quarter when Alleva was summoned for a pow wow with Alexander.

Alleva was, in fact, away from his box suite for much of that quarter (only a glass partition separates it from the press box so I can personally vouch for that much).

It seems far-fetched, but quite possible.

I really think the backlash from the fans — an uprising if you will — that was on full display in one of Tiger Stadium’s weirdest atmospheres might have been impossible to ignore for the conspirators.

It didn’t help that LSU was getting hammered from near and afar in the media over it. 

Alexander, the president, is fairly new to the LSU job, and must have spent the night thinking that nutty stuff like this hardly ever happened at his former post at Long Beach State.

A lot of that love for Les was for the uncommon (but not unexpected) class with which he handled the previous two weeks — while Alleva and LSU officials were notable only for their awkward silence, which did nothing but add fuel to the speculation.

Nothing was more forced than hearing Alleva explain the silence with “I made it clear my policy is to wait until the end of the regular season …”

And then it took two minutes to do the evaluation?

Come on. That convenient “policy” was an excuse for leaving a respected head coach twisting in the wind for two weeks?

They should be ashamed.

To not say anything publicly wasn’t fair to Miles. To not say anything personally to Miles was disgraceful.

The happy ending doesn’t make that go away.

So, you almost have to now ask Alleva: Who’s on the hot seat now?