Les Miles did a fantastic job coaching LSU this past season.  He led his team through the nation’s toughest schedule, avoided dozens of potential off-field pitfalls, won the SEC and made it all the way to the BCS Championship Game with a team that’s still awfully darn young.

If Oklahoma State hadn’t fallen at Iowa State — setting up an LSU-Bama rematch for the title — there’s a good chance Miles has another championship ring in the vault today.

So let’s not start with the “you hate Les Miles” bunk.  Personally, I think he was the nation’s best coach in 2011 (it not early-January 2012, certainly 2011).

But grown millionaires shouldn’t take potshots at teenagers.  Period.  End of story.  Regardless of setting.  Too bad then that Miles did just that with regards to Notre Dame signee Gunner Kiel.

When the five-star quarterback prospect changed his mind last month and enrolled in South Bend rather than in Baton Rouge — most say his mother’s emotional plea to stay close to him led to the switch — Miles tried to be magnanimous.

“There’s a point in time where young people make a variety of decisions for a variety of reasons,” Miles said on January, 17th.  “The only thing I can tell you is there’s a guy in the Midwest who felt staying close to home was the right thing, or maybe here’s a guy in any number of places where the decision comes down to staying close to family and representing a stadium or team nearby.  I understand that very much.  If that’s the cast, then we need to have people that are going to be happy here in Louisiana.”

Well, it doesn’t sound like Miles understands that “very much” now.  Speaking at a booster function on Wednesday, Miles questioned Kiel’s heart and talent:

“There was a gentleman from Indiana that thought about coming to the Bayou State.  He did not necessarily have the chest and the ability to lead a program, so you know.”

Naturally, LSU fans roared with approval.  Their coach had just fired a pretty big insult at a teen who dared to stay close to home to be with his family.  Hoorah!  The hometown Baton Rouge Advocate even cited Miles’ “wit.”

Sorry, folks, but that’s weak.

Miles knew what he was doing and who he was speaking to.  How better to sell fans on the idea that three-star QB prospect Jeremy Liggins is a better acquisition than the five-star Kiel than to just go ahead and rip Kiel?

Liggins — who may turn out to be a better quarterback than Kiel in the long run, who knows? — was praised by Miles for having the grit and gumption to leave his home state for the Tigers.

“Liggins stood up in the middle of Mississippi and said, ‘I’m going to a place where we can win a national championship,’ and I like that man’s style,” Miles said.

Some are sure to defend the coach by stating that his rip of Kiel came in a talk with fans.  He was just giving them some red meat.  True enough.  And if he’d said, “We’re gonna win a national title,” I’d have no problem with it.

But when you take a personal shot at someone else — in front of the media — it’s bush league.  Lane Kiffin didn’t get a pass in 2009 when he claimed in front of a Tennessee booster club that Florida’s Urban Meyer had cheated while recruiting a UT signee (nor did he deserve one).  For Miles to publicly question the heart and leadership qualities of a young man he’d just tried to bring into his program is hugely disappointing and he deserves the backlash he’s going to feel for it.

And there will be some.

Perhaps people will realize that Miles worked hard to land Kiel, someone he now says didn’t have “the chest” to lead LSU.  Doesn’t that mean Miles failed to properly evaluate the kid?

Perhaps Kiel himself changed his mind about LSU after watching Miles go with his run-firt quarterback for all four quarters of the BCS Championship Game, rather than turn the ball over to his pass-first quarterback.  We’ll never know because Kiel didn’t rip Miles or LSU when he landed at Notre Dame.  (Though most everyone else in America ripped LSU’s offensive showing in that game.)

And forget the perhaps on this one, it’s guaranteed: Rival SEC coaches who recruit against Miles are sure to remind parents that LSU’s coach will say anything to land their son… but he’ll turn on him quicker than a bell clapper in a goose’s rear if he inks elsewhere.

This one was bad form from a good coach.

Les Miles said earlier this month that he planned to go to the NFL to find a replacement for departed receivers coach Billy Gonzales.  Seems that’s exactly what he’s done.  Multiple sources “close to the football program” claim that Oakland Raiders tight end coach Adam Henry will be joining the Tigers staff by the end of the week.

LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette said the school is finishing up details on a contract.

Henry has spent the past five years in the Raiders organization, the last three working with the team’s tight ends.  Prior to Oakland, he served as an assistant at McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Gonzales left LSU to become the offensive coordinator at Illinois.

With 4:45 to go in last night’s game, LSU trailed Mississippi State by 11.  A furious rally cut that lead to a single point with 18 seconds left, but the Bulldogs prevailed in the end 76-71.  Tiger coach Trent Johnson was less than thrilled with officiating that — in his view — helped the Dogs hang on for a homecourt victory.

In the game’s waning seconds he received a technical foul for sharing his views with the officials.  After the game, he explained his displeasure:


“When you’ve got good kids and they struggle and they fight and there’s things going on out there you don’t like, that’s hard…

The game was decided on the boards, but there was a reason for that.  You can’t be as aggressive as you want.  I just want a clarification so I can help my kids.”


Johnson handled that one well.  Good thing.  If he hadn’t he may well have gotten one of the league’s “don’t blast the officials” fines.

You can add another name to the list of LSU folks denying that a pre-BCS title game fuss led to an uninspired performance in the biggest game of the year.  The new name?  Les Miles, who was asked if there was any truth to the rumor of player dissension:


“Not at all.  We took the field just like we always have.  There’s never been any issue prior to a game.  There has never been a player-coach interaction before or after a game that was negative.”


Most of the rumors and messageboard posts claim that part of the team wanted Jarrett Lee at quarterback and part wanted Jordan Jefferson.  Miles never did go to Lee during the game, but his explanation at a presser yesterday was the same one he delivered after the contest last Monday night.

“I do think about the ability to change quarterbacks,” Miles said.  “That was a question that I had.  I brought it to my staff. … I can tell you that Jarrett Lee did come to mind, we do have confidence in Jarrett.”

But, LSU crossed the 50 or the first time all night early in the fourth quarter.  Down 15-0, Miles felt Jefferson still gave his team the best chance to come back.

“Jordan Jefferson had put us in that position (at Bama’s 32 thanks to an 18-yard quarterback scramble), and the way the pass rush was going in that game we just felt like we needed a mobile quarterback to make a play like that and then understand that if you finish just one drive and score seven, it’s a completely different game.  We just felt like we needed that guy who might be able to get loose with his feet.”

Since the title game, LSU has lost out on star quarterback prospect Gunner Kiel and seen three underclassmen declare for the NFL draft.  What was bright and cheery on the Bayou last Sunday has turned dark and dreary in the minds of many over the last 10 days.

But Miles isn’t stressing.  “We return a team that in my mind will have just as much talent and be just as capable as any that we’ve had… The fundamental of this program is to win championships and this team is a championship team.  We won the West.  We won the conference and certainly in our view the conference is the best in the country.  We spent 11 weeks as the number one team int he country and repelled all comers.  We played eight nationally ranked teams, beat the national champs in the regular season and played in the last game where only two teams get to play.  I cannot bemoan this team’s success, and by any measure this is a great year.”

True enough.  But what about the quarterback spot next year?

“We’ll throw the football more,” said Miles.  “I think there will be a fun approach, a different view of our quarterback position now, and I think it will allow us to throw the football more effectively and to approach a gameplan that can feature some receivers and some balls being thrown down the field maybe a little bit more efficiently.”

Perhaps there would be a lot less griping in the LSU camp today if Miles and company had just tried that approach a time or two against Alabama in New Orleans.

As most of you know by now, former NFL quarterback and current New Orleans radio host Bobby Hebert opened Les Miles’ post-BCS title game press conference with an emotional rant that forced someone in charge to ask Hebert if he even had a question.

Some LSU fans — who were also mad at Miles for losing one game out of 14 this season — have supported Hebert’s bush league actions.   But most media members — who know that a) you don’t cheer in the press box and b) you behave professionally in press conferences — have come down hard on the admitted Tiger fan.  (The fact that Hebert’s offensive lineman son, T-Bob, didn’t play in Monday’s game might have had more to do with Papa’s rant than the his fandom.)

In addition to most media members, LSU has also tsk-tsked Hebert.  Sports information director Michael Bonnette said: “Bobby said he was a fan, and we don’t credential fans.”

Sugar Bowl spokesman John Sudsbury apologized to LSU for Hebert’s behavior.  “It was very disrespectful. … We don’t want to credential people who go into a press conference and act like a fan.”

One group that’s behind Hebert?  His employer, WWL-AM radio in New Orleans.  Though even the station that enjoys good ratings for Hebert’s show admitted that he was out of line.

“Bobby’s in no trouble (with the station),” said WWL vice president Chris Claus (we presume no relation to Santa).  “The tone of the question Bobby asked was not appropriate.   The content of the question was fine, and Bobby knows he made a mistake.  Bobby’s incredibly passionate about LSU, and his emotions bubbled up, as they often do.”

Bobby knows he made a mistake?  Actually he said on his own show that he’s not a journalist and “so what” if he’d been thrown out of the presser for his behavior.  Later in the week on ESPN radio he went through a list of Miles’ previous coaching gaffes.  On Sirius radio he suggested Miles had just been lucky this season.  Sure doesn’t sound like Hebert “knows he made a mistake” to those of us at MrSEC.com.

It will be interesting to see if Hebert receives his usual media credentials for LSU home games next season.

From our viewpoint, if Hebert says he’s a fan, then he should buy a ticket and sit with the fans.  If, instead, he wants to receive the “perks” of being in the media — a cold hot dog, a seat in a sterile press box and then a seat in the postgame interview room — then he needs to act professionally.

LSU was a young team in 2011 and the Tigers will have a lot of talent returning for their 2012 campaign.  But not everyone’s coming back.

Citing sources “close to LSU,” Jim Kleinpeter of The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports today that All-American cornerback Morris Claiborne and All-SEC defensive tackle Michael Brockers will be leaving the school early for the riches of the NFL.

Both players are expected to reveal their plans officially this afternoon.

LSU reciever Russell Shepard has apparently decided to leave the school before his senior season.  But he didn’t make it clear on his Twitter feed yesterday where he would be going — to another school or to the NFL:


“Thanks for your support Tiger Nation…but I have to do what’s best for my family and myself…Geaux Tigers.”


That sounded like an NFL declaration to us, but some sites have claimed that Shepard was still deciding what to do.

Earlier today he tweeted that he was back in his hometown of Houston:


“Houston I’m back what’s good…..I don’t want to see a football right now lol.”


Russell had just 14 catches for 190 yards and four touchdowns this season.  He was suspended by the NCAA for the Tigers’ first three games due to a compliance issue involving his living arrangements.

Whether he’s going to try to get an NFL team to look at his workout numbers or transfer to another school, it seems pretty clear — for now — that Shepard won’t be back in Baton Rouge for the 2012 season.

Heading into Monday’s BCS title game, most writers across the country had jumped on the Les Miles bandwagon.  I can tell you that this one sure did.

The job Miles did this year was fantastic.  He negotiated on-field and off-field obstacles from season’s start to season’s end and he made it look rather easy in the process.  He pushed just the right buttons with his team as they rolled through the nation’s toughest schedule.  He’d gone from the goofy, lucky Mad Hatter to a guy who — dare we say — might be a better overall coach than Nick Saban in the span of three months.

And then on Monday… the clock struck midnight.  His team’s offense didn’t look prepared for what Alabama showed them on defense.  It appeared as though the Tigers were content to roll out the same gameplan they used in Round One in Round Two.  And that wasn’t anywhere near good enough.

For those reasons, Miles’ long list of unexpected accomplishments in 2011 are filed away and far from top of mind as we begin 2012.  Instead, the headlines from Louisiana read like this:


Bad night for LSU’s Les Miles

Title-game embarrassment detracts from an impressive season for the LSU football team

LSU football coach Les Miles needs to explain why Tigers were unprepared for title game


We’re not saying the coach’s team didn’t seem befuddled on Monday.  They did.  His moves on Monday deserve to be questioned.

But it’s far from fair to expect a coach to march 14-0 through a killer schedule, win the toughest league in America, and then beat the other best team in America twice in the same season.  It’s called perspective.  Disappointment with the Tigers’ finish is to be expected.  Anger over their demise — after a season filled with so many positive surprises — well, that’s not just.

Miles did too good a job through the season’s first 13 weeks to be butchered for the failings displayed in Week 14.

Former New Orleans Saints quarterback and current radio talking head Bobby Hebert isn’t backing down from his boorish behavior at Les Miles’ postgame presser on Monday.  As you’ve surely seen by now, Hebert — the father of Tiger O-lineman T-Bob Hebert — let loose with the kind of rant you’d expect to hear from a parent who’s mad his son doesn’t start in Little League.  He wanted to know why Miles didn’t go to Jarret Lee.  And why he didn’t throw deep.  And why his play selection was… well, you get the point — there was no point.  There was more gripe than question in his remarks.

And now he’s defended his actions:

“Come on, I’m not a journalist.  I didn’t go to journalism school, and I don’t claim to be a journalist.  The credentials that I have is that I played 15 years of pro football, and I know what it is to play quarterback.

I was like an extension of the fans that finally got into a press conference.  Maybe I shouldn’t have given my opinion a couple of times.  You are supposed to really ask a question and not give opinion, but the hell with it.  What are they going to do, kick me out?  So what?”

Well, uh, yeah.  They should have thrown him out.  On his ass.

If his only credentials are the fact that he played pro ball 20 years ago then I wonder who gave him a media credential to get into a working postgame press room in the first place.  And if Hebert couldn’t carry himself in the same professional manner as those people who were working in the room, then he should have been shown the door.

Period.

Miles deserved better than to have an angry parent bark at him in front of rolling cameras.  For his part, he handled the situation with patience and even attempted to give Hebert a reply to his rambling complaint.

The coach showed class.  The ex-quarterback?  He showed his ass.

(UPDATE — For what it’s worth, it doesn’t sound like Hebert will be getting any more postgame media credentials for a while.)

Apparently LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis believes the old phrase: “You can’t go home again.”  According to the Twitter feed of Knoxville radio host Jimmy Hyams, Chavis had the chance to return to his Tennessee roots but he turned it down.

Along with more than a million bucks:


“UT offered LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis the DC job at over $1 million a year.  He declined.  Chavis coached at UT from 1989-2008.”


Chavis also played at Tennessee. 

But it’s well known the man running LSU’s tough-as-nails defense wasn’t thrilled with the way he and his old boss, Phillip Fulmer, were sent packing following their second losing season in four back in ’08.  The odds of him leaving a well-stocked, championship caliber program in a talent-rich state for a tougher job with a coach on the hot seat at a place that allowed Lane Kiffin to fire him after a 60-second meeting were mighty, mighty long.  Probably too long for Derek Dooley to have even given this one a shot. 

But many in the Volunteer fanbase will likely approve of the attempt to bring the man called Chief back to his old home.

And many more in Louisiana will be glad to know that his blood now runs purple and gold, not orange.

As for Tennessee, it’s been rumored that Dooley had also targeted Clemson’s Kevin Steele, but last night’s 70-33 shellacking at the hands of West Virginia might have cooled that talk.  The Vols are looking to replace Justin Wilcox who left to become the defensive coordinator at Washington.