Les Miles enjoys his gig at LSU. (Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports)
There were some big moves made in the Southeastern Conference last week.
Twenty-one underclassmen declared themselves for the National Football League Draft, saying goodbye to college football forever — at least as players. No schools changed head coaches, which given the climate of college football, is quite remarkable these days.
But there was some big news made among the assistant coaching ranks, and the epicenter of this change was in Baton Rouge.
LSU fans have gone through a series of worries whenever major head coaching jobs became available anywhere in the country. It seems as if Les Miles’ name always comes up as a possible replacement. It is especially unnerving when there’s an opening at Michigan, as it was the case in 2007, 2011 and, just recently, in 2014. Michigan is Miles’ alma mater and where he served as offensive line coach for eight years.
When that job became available again this offseason, Miles’ name was mentioned, but it quickly became obvious that Michigan wanted Jim Harbaugh of the San Francisco 49ers; and happily Harbaugh wanted Michigan. Folks in Baton Rouge then breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Miles stayed put at LSU, where he is 103-29 with one national championship to his credit after 10 years as head coach. He’s taken the Tigers to 10 bowls and has a 6-4 record despite a 1-3 mark in his last four.
Miles is the second-winningest coach in LSU history, behind only Charlie McClendon. At his current pace of 10.3 wins per season, he will become LSU’s winningest coach in four more years — and that is a good reason to stick around. His current salary of $4.3 million plus incentives might be a more compelling reason to stay. There are also reasons to stay in Baton Rouge and it has to do with the coaching moves of last week.
First, Miles lost his defensive coordinator when John Chavis decided to take his considerable coaching resume to Texas A&M after six highly successful seasons of coordinating defenses at LSU. Now this might be a setback for most coaches but not Miles. Instead, it galvanized him into action. Miles wasted no time in finding replacements.
First he dipped into Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and hired Kevin Steele as his new defensive coordinator. Steele is known as a studious coach.
“He took notes in every meeting,” former Tennessee head coach Johnny Majors told Ross Dellinger of The Advocate.com. “He had them in every meeting.”
“I’ve got reams of notebooks. I could take you back and go, ‘We were No. 2; they were No. 1. OK, here’s Coach Osborne’s pregame Friday night talk,’ ” Steele said. “I’ve got notes. I’ve written it all down. That’s just what I do.”
The copious note-taking has served Steele well. He has been a part of numerous wins and has championship rings from his days at Alabama and Clemson.
But he is best known for his ability as a recruiter. That’s a hint as to Miles’ master plan.
Then there was a bigger splash when Miles hired former Ole Miss head coach and Southern California interim head coach Ed Orgeron as his defensive line coach. Orgeron had only moderate success at Ole Miss but was highly successful at USC and when he didn’t get the job full-time there was an outcry from the Trojans players.
Orgeron was quick to come on board when Miles called the Louisiana native with a job offer.
“It’s a place I’ve always wanted to coach,” said Orgeron.
“Ed is an expert when it comes to the defensive line,” Miles said. “He will bring tremendous enthusiasm and energy to our program. His passion and love for the state of Louisiana makes him a great fit for us.
“Ed has done a great job at every coaching stop he’s made. His teams are always well prepared, played hard on every snap and fed off the enthusiasm and excitement that he brought to the field. This is a great hire for us and we are really excited about Coach O becoming a Tiger.”
That’s the final piece of the puzzle. By bringing on Steele and Orgeron, Miles has acquired two of the best recruiters in college football. And everybody knows that recruiting is the lifeblood of college football. With everything else — location, tradition and top-notch high school talent in the immediate area — LSU has going for it, the future looks bright for LSU football.
Relax LSU fans. Les Miles is not going anywhere.
