LSU coach Les Miles dismissed most of the talk about leaving the football program during the “Lunch with Les” news conference.
The status regarding Miles’ future remained unclear on Monday after reports of Miles’ tenure at LSU was nearing its end. Miles addressed the media about the future of his job in his opening statement and for “two minutes” after his statement, he said.
“I can tell you that I don’t know anything other than ‘let’s go to work,’” Miles said. “‘Let’s rally the troops. Let’s enjoy the men that I’ve hire and the young men I’ve recruited. Let’s coach them hard. Let’s go win victory.’ I’m going to enjoy that. It’s just that simple.
“This is not about me. This is about the team. This is about preparing to beat an opponent and to enjoy the young men that we coach.”
He said the future he is most worried about is Saturday’s game against Texas A&M University.
The seat for Miles’ job reached boiling temperatures on Monday, but he refused to give leeway about the coaching direction the football program is headed toward.
“What is the future is, to me, after the Texas A&M game — a great game that is going to be played in Tiger Stadium,” Miles said. “I’m not going to find myself watching TV or reading papers or doing anything but preparing a plan, looking at the advantages that we have and seeing if we can exploit them to victory.”
After saying he doesn’t know any updates about his job, Miles made it certain that retirement is not an option and Louisiana is his home.
“No, I’m not considering retirement,” Miles said. “Being the head coach and giving leadership here and allowing my family to enjoy the opportunities of the community and the enjoyment of Louisiana has just been rich to our family. It’s given us insight to people and different areas.”
“This is home,” he said.
Miles said he will still meet with his team before its normal Monday team meeting to address his future.
“This will always be about our players and the team,” Miles said. “I’m a separate piece. I orchestrate and move with and hopefully am successful. That’s the only away I know how to do it.”
Redshirt freshman guard William Clapp and senior linebacker Lamar Louis said they’ve heard about the controversy surrounding their coach but didn’t know any information by Miles as of 2 p.m. on Monday.
The pair said the team is backing Miles “100 percent” and said the players have decided to ignore the negative media attention Miles is receiving about his future in Baton Rouge.
Miles said the meeting with his team, as he does each week at 3 p.m. will be where he addresses the ongoing situation surrounding the future of his job, “this will be a warmup for the team meeting,” he said.
In the final asked question about his job, Miles shunned the topic and answered three questions regarding the status of his future, then restricted the topic after the fourth question.
“I really said speculation on my job at this point is off limits,” Miles said. “The information that I have is do your job as you would do it. That’s something that I took when I took that job 11 years ago.
“If someone is asking me if I’m coaching for my job, I think I’ve done that for 11 years.”