When LSU football coach Les Miles addressed the media at his annual media day event in early August, he made a joke.He said he held the team’s 2008 event on a Friday and entered through a door at stage left. This year’s event was held on a Sunday, and he entered through the door on the right, because this year he’s “trying anything different.”The reference was to LSU’s dismal 8-5 record in 2008 which saw the Tigers compile a losing record in conference play for the first time since 1999.”Eight victories and a bowl championship is not enough,” Miles said as part of his opening address.The fifth-year LSU coach has the right idea to try to change things up this season. Eight victories — especially for a team fresh off a national championship — were certainly not enough.This is the make-or-break season for Miles for much of the Tiger Nation because really, no one wants to be associated with losing.If the Tigers fail to live up to expectations like they did last season, Miles’ now relatively cool seat could become quite toasty by season’s end.Despite him being a head coach for nearly a decade, it can be said that it’s still pretty hard to say exactly how good of a coach Miles is.In his four seasons before taking the job at LSU, he went 28-21 at Oklahoma State and led the Cowboys to three straight bowl appearances for the first time since the mid-1980s.But nothing can be conclusively deduced about Miles’ coaching acumen from that period since Oklahoma State is a middle-of-the-road program in the Big 12 that competes with powers like Oklahoma and Texas for the top recruits in the region.To make a comparison of Miles straight-up against other coaches at that point in his career would be pointless and unfair.  At Oklahoma State, he showed enough to the powers that be at LSU to be offered a contract following the departure of Nick Saban.His hiring was seen with skepticism at the time, but Miles quickly garnered favor from the Tiger faithful by leading his team to the Southeastern Conference Championship Game in his first season and winning 11 games — helping to heal the wounds created by Hurricane Katrina.LSU saw good times aplenty for LSU in the first three seasons of the Miles era. The Tigers were only defeated six times in that span and won an SEC title and a national championship.But it could be said that he benefitted from his predecessor’s recruiting classes during those seasons.A statement like that would be mostly wrong, but how difficult is it for the average college football coach to be at least moderately successful — which Miles was — when he inherits a roster with players like JaMarcus Russell, Glenn Dorsey and LaRon Landry, just to name a few?That being said, it’s not entirely fair or accurate to try to make a judgment of Miles based on any of those three seasons.The 2008 season was the first real look at Miles, and it wasn’t pretty.Poor quarterback and defensive play plagued LSU throughout the season.The three starters at quarterback, sophomores Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson and now-Harvard student Andrew Hatch, combined for 20 touchdowns but threw 18 interceptions, many of which were returned for touchdowns.The defense was just as bad.The squad finished No. 32 nationally in total defense and No. 73 nationally in passing defense under co-coordinators Doug Mallory and Bradley Dale Peveto.Both of these issues were directly affected by Miles and are knocks against his legacy already.Miles kicked troubled quarterback Ryan Perrilloux off his squad in the offseason prior to the 2008 season, leaving a dearth of game-ready talent at the position. Miles also chose to promote from in-house to get his defensive coordinators after Bo Pelini left for Nebraska.  Miles can’t afford more seasons like that one, or the legacy he leaves will be more like that of former Miami Coach Larry Coker than perhaps he or anybody would have wanted.No one will remember the great news conference moments where Miles lauded his “damn strong football team,” or told the college football world to “have a great day” the morning of the 2007 SEC Championship Game if he has another 3-5 conference record in 2009.They’ll just remember how a somewhat quirky little man with a funny hat couldn’t live up to their expectations.Follow Johanathan Brooks on Twitter @TDR_jbrooks.—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]