Ignore The Media; LSU Had To Fire Les Miles

When I learned of LSU’s decision to part ways with long-time head coach Les Miles, I was not in the least bit surprised. At the end of the 2015 season it was apparent that the Tigers needed to get off to a fast start in 2016 for Miles to keep his job, and when that didn’t happen I think we all expected that it was only a matter of time for Miles.

But as time passed on Sunday afternoon I started to notice just how much the story had blown up throughout the sports world. Obviously with one of the most successful coaches in recent memory getting fired, I expected a decent amount of media coverage. The thing that surprised me the most was just how violently the national media was reacting to the announcement of Miles’ firing.

Like I said before, I expected Miles to be let go within the week after losing to Auburn and I kind of just shrugged my shoulders when it happened. But many seemed to be absolutely stunned and the “LSU is making a massive mistake” and “how can you fire a coach who wins 10 games a year?” narratives were seemingly on every major platform.

Mike Greenberg of ESPN summed up the nation’s reaction to the firing pretty well this morning, saying, “This was a stupid, pointless, reactionary move made by LSU.”

I get it. One of the most successful coaches in the entire sport loses his job, and people are going react, as it’s quite the story. But for those of us following the team, it’s pretty clear that this was absolutely the correct call for the future of the LSU football program.

Let’s start by debunking the consensus takeaway from this entire situation. The majority of people freaking out over the firing of Les Miles are doing so on the argument of ” how are they going to do better than a coach who wins double-digit games every single season?”

To be honest, the Tigers might not find that guy, and the program may suffer. But the team HAD to make a change. Sure, the next coach may come in and win nine games a year and not live up to standards set by Miles, but the complacency within the program had to end, and that is what this move was all about.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

For years now, the storyline has been the exact same for the Tigers. Year in and year out, LSU has been a team loaded with enough talent to win a national title, but coaching blunders, poor offensive schemes, and incompetent quarterbacks keep them sitting at 10 or 11 wins tops.

If you’re almost any other school in the country, you would take what Les Miles has built in a heartbeat. But this isn’t just any other program in college football. This is LSU, and we expect far more from our team.

Firing Les Miles had nothing to do with the team thinking it could easily find a coach better than him. He’s the second all-time winningest coach in school history for a reason. The change was about the leaders of the program seeing a consistent pattern of the same issues. Over the last few years, Miles has been unable to develop a quarterback, unable to field a decent offense despite immense talent, and unable to take the Tigers over the hump from a talented team that wins games to a team in the mix for a title.

Who knows what the future holds for the LSU Tigers. Maybe the next coach builds a dynasty, or maybe the program takes a step back. But the one thing that is clear is the that the frustration of consistently not being able to take the next step forward due to the same repeated issues is over, and that is why Les Miles is gone.