Sunday 29 November 2015

Miles to Remain LSU Coach - ESPN


Les Miles will remain as coach at LSU, athletic director Joe Alleva said Saturday night, ending a week of intense speculation that he would not return.

A source involved in the talks told ESPN's Joe Schad that the decision to retain Miles was not made until the third quarter of Saturday night's 19-7 victory over Texas A&M.

The silence from LSU's administration this week about Miles' job status spoke volumes, but not as loudly as the support Tigers fans showed on Saturday. It's been a strange week in Baton Rouge.

"Obviously there's been quite a bit of speculation in the past few days about the future of our football coach and our football program," Alleva said. "I made it very clear that my policy is to wait till the end of the season, and obviously it's the end of the regular season.

"The season's complete, and I want to make it very clear and positive that Les Miles is our football coach and he will continue to be our football coach. I'm looking forward to working with Coach Miles as he leads this team to a bowl game and another great recruiting class."

After the victory over the Aggies, Tigers players lifted Miles on their shoulders and carried him down the field toward the student section as the crowd chanted "Keep Les Miles! Keep Les Miles!''

The coach said he was initially told he would remain at LSU following the game, first by school president F. King Alexander, and then by Alleva.

Decision-makers at the school, the source told Schad, felt that the media had swayed the public and that a decision to remove Miles would have been perceived as mean-spirited because he had become a sympathetic figure.

In addition, the source said the university felt it would have been difficult to ask for funds from the state in the future since a buyout of Miles' contract would have been paid by private donations.

"I am proud to be associated with a great institution, my colleagues, my coaches, my players and the president and athletic director," Miles said. "It's a joy. It's nice for them to come say to me, 'Hey, the job you've been doing, you can still do it.' I like that."

Miles' job status had been in question for more than a week, and speculation had intensified after the program's first three-game losing streak since 1999.

A source told Schad on Friday that LSU leadership was "heavily in favor" of a change but that a final decision had not been made and that Miles had not been formally informed he would not return. Another source said Miles was "very likely" to be let go soon.


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