Coors Light inadvertently destroyed the LSU football program.While this statement is blatantly ridiculous and untrue in many regards, it should be examined by LSU football coach Les Miles when considering his team’s image.It seems as if Miles is nationally promoting himself more than his football team, and cheap beer from the Rocky Mountain Springs has opened that door for him.Coors Light has been pushing its television advertising campaign featuring actual clips of NFL head coaches in press conferences. They are spliced with scripted questions from young men drinking Coors Light, and they are cut to make the coaches answer questions about the beer. The setup allows for the beer to be advertised and a few jokes to be dropped throughout.Because of the commercials, NFL coaches were suddenly appearing in commercial breaks during shows that had nothing to do with football.In a world of simple celebrity, football coaches were highlighted.And Miles almost leads the charge of using celebrity status to promote things other than his team. He has never been in a Coors Light commercial but is one of the faces of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers and Cox Cable.He also appeared in a commercial for ESPN’s SportsCenter, wearing a small LSU logo on his knit collared shirt.Any press is good press, and Miles appearing in commercials is not a bad thing by any means. Anything that will promote LSU football or LSU in general can only be beneficial.But these commercials do not promote LSU football in anyway. And, even if they did, following a 8-5 season probably isn’t the right time to be flaunting either our program or our coach.Even if Miles is a celebrity.While Miles’ fame began after a winning season and will be a lasting legacy, it is easy to expound upon his fame while turning his shoulder, however slightly, on his football program. Of course, his ESPN commercial was filmed when riding the fame of winning the National Championship, but he should be wary of what commercials he chooses to do next.With today’s instant media, it becomes increasingly easy to be a celebrity. Take Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computers, for example. Lately, Jobs hasn’t been able to make as many public appearances because of a hormonal imbalance.I really can’t think of a reasonable explanation as to why the world knows this.But we do.This is the world we live in.So there is nothing immediately wrong with Miles taking extra pay on the side from commercials, but it raises two important points: Does he need the money, and does this help LSU in any way?While commenting on his financial needs is an extremely subjective action, according the non-classified salary database on The Daily Reveille Web site, Miles’ base salary $300,000 a year. It can be safely assumed Miles isn’t hurting for change.And while his commercial fame might help LSU football get a good recruit or two — thus earning the school more money and helping LSU in general — this probably is not the case.All that will probably happen is people will get slightly annoyed that Miles is promoting a company that has very little investment in LSU.At least when his face is up on a Cane’s billboard, LSU fans can think, “Cane’s is an LSU institution in some ways.”ESPN is not, nor will it ever be.Most children, after breaking their family crystal, wouldn’t want their mother to appear on the front of Good Parenting. We shouldn’t assume LSU football players want their coach promoting sports shows when they can’t win games.It’s time to focus on rebuilding the football program into another National Championship team.More commercials can come later.–Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]