LSU coach Les Miles has won nearly 90 percent of his games since taking over the position in 2005. His 26-4 record is tied for fifth in the NCAA behind USC’s Pete Carroll, Texas’s Mack Brown, Ohio State’s Jim Tressel and West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez, who all have three losses since 2005 with their respective programs. But despite the high winning percentage and having the nation’s No.2 team, Miles still gets little national respect because he is “winning with Nick’s players.” Tom Dienhart of SportingNews.com published a column in April ranking the best coaches in the SEC. In the column, Alabama coach Nick Saban is rated the best coach in the conference, whereas Miles is ranked No. 10. Yes, No. 10. That means Miles, who is 26-4, is behind Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson, who has a whopping 17-44 mark in his tenure with the Commodores. He is also behind Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, who has only had one winning season in his five years in Lexington. Yo, Dienhart, do you remember this past Oct. 14? I sure do. LSU stomped Kentucky 49-0. “Can Miles reach the summit like Saban?” Dienhart said. “If Miles didn’t do it [in 2006], he never may get it done.” What a crock of bologna. What Saban loyalists fail to mention when bashing Miles is that Saban did not even win as well as Miles with “Saban’s players,” posting a 9-3 record in his final season at LSU with players like JaMarcus Russell, Early Doucet, Craig Davis, Dwayne Bowe, Kyle Williams and LaRon Landry on the roster – the same guys that Miles gets no credit for because he “inherited” them. Miles took the same core of players and went 11-2 for two straight seasons, a remarkable feat considering the team did not have a “normal” week until the middle of the first season because of Hurricane Katrina, and they had to play four top-10 opponents on the road in the second season. Saban loyalists also fail to mention that under St. Nick, LSU often had a bad habit of forgetting to show up in time for the game, recording memorable performances like a 13-10 loss to UAB in 2000 and an unimpressive 24-20 win against Troy in 2004 that saw the Tigers have to come from behind in the last minute to win. Under Miles, LSU has made it a habit of destroying non-conference opponents, compiling an 11-0 record against non-conference competition, outscoring opponents 465-77. For those who are now assuming LSU must have been facing cupcake opponents, think again, because those 11 wins came against opponents such as Miami, Arizona, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and yes, everyone’s favorite, Appalachian State, who suffered a 24-0 defeat in 2005 in Tiger Stadium. With each year that goes by and each graduating class that leaves the LSU program, more and more of “Saban’s players” leave the program, yet so far the results have stayed the same. In his first two full recruiting classes, Miles has done his best to replenish his stockpile of talent, landing two top-10 recruiting classes and signing current and future impact players like Terrance Toliver, Chad Jones, Keiland Williams, Al Woods and Danny McCray. This season Miles already has 16 commitments, choosing carefully from what most experts consider a weak Louisiana talent pool. LSU is the No. 2 team in the country and has had four-straight, relatively easy victories, causing many to herald the Tigers as the favorite to win the BCS National Championship. Memo to Mr. Dienhart: Change the basis for your rankings next season, because that new guy who resides in Baton Rouge is like his predecessor – one hell of a coach.
—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]