Miles was the man for the job

• By CARL DUBOIS
• Published: Jan 3, 2008

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When LSU hired Nick Saban as its football coach in November 1999, the Tigers had eight losing seasons in the previous 11 years. When LSU hired Les Miles to succeed Saban in January 2005, Miles inherited a different program.

LSU’s two Southeastern Conference championships and one national championship in the previous four seasons presented Miles a different challenge and different set of expectations than existed at LSU at the start of the decade.

“He didn’t seem deterred or daunted or concerned by that at all,” said LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, who arrived on campus at roughly the same time as Miles.

“If anything, (the new standard at LSU) was one of the things that was a very strong, attractive feature to Les.”

The last game of his third season at LSU will find Miles coaching the No. 2-ranked Tigers (11-2) against the No. 1-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (11-1) in the BCS National Championship game on Monday in New Orleans.

At a Baton Rouge civic luncheon before the start of preseason practice, Miles reflected upon LSU’s 11-2 record and No. 5 ranking to end 2005, his first season with the Tigers, and an 11-2 record and No. 3 ranking to finish 2006.

“Maybe we can catch another odd number,” Miles said, grinning at the obvious pattern he wanted to see continue.

Continuity is what LSU officials wanted when they hired him from Oklahoma State after the 2004 season. Miles expects nothing less than success from himself, LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman said.

“Les can handle success,” Bertman said. “If he wins the national championship, he won’t lie down. He’ll try and win another one.”

Bertman was LSU’s baseball coach when the university hired Saban, a little more than seven months away from the fifth national championship Bertman would win as coach of the Tigers. Joe Dean was athletic director.

Mark Emmert, O’Keefe’s predecessor, was on the front lines of the coaching search in ways few expected from an LSU chancellor.

Herb Vincent, who was LSU’s sports information director, recalled the state of the football program and the way he summed it up for Saban upon his arrival.

“We hadn’t won a major bowl game since 1966,” said Vincent, now a senior associate athletic director. “We’d been to a couple of Sugar Bowls since then and lost them. We hadn’t been to the Cotton Bowl since ’66. We didn’t win the three Orange Bowls we went to, and of course we’ve never been to the Rose Bowl.