I know that the seat is burning hot for Les Miles, and deservedly so. It is time for a change, but what happens if LSU can't find an acceptable for Miles? What if talks with Jimbo Fisher do not get anywhere? Are we sure that Justin Fuente or Tom Hermann are the answer? They have only one year of success at Less than Power 5 Conferences. If LSU would choose either, they may hit a jackpot. I would prefer Hermann as he at least comes from the Big 10 and to be fair, Urban Meyer came from Bowling Green and Utah before he was successful at Florida and Ohio State. Gary Patterson will not leave TCU. He has it good there and he has a lot of other deals in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and being in the Big 12 will afford him an opportunity to be in the playoffs in the future. It would be much more difficult in the SEC West.
Does LSU pull the plug and take a chance on an unknown quantity? If that hire goes bad, where does LSU go then? It could turn out well. Nick Saban was not universally accepted when he was first hired at LSU. Does LSU give Miles one more year if they don't have an adequate replacement? I think that would also be a problem too.
I don't like the idea of letting someone like Ed Ogeron a chance to run things as kind of trial. Look at what happened with John L Smith at Arkansas in 2012. Yes, Ogeron did well at USC in but LSU does not need to waste a year in limbo and recruiting would suffer. On the other hand, with Miles on the hot seat for another year, that does not either appear good.
As you can see there are no real good answers. Miles may be on the way out, but the one who really is putting himself on the hot seat is Alleva. Alleva has proved he can hire a good football coach as he hired David Cutcliffe at Duke. Duke was nothing for a long time before him. He has missed on Trent Johnson and Nikki Caldwell in basketball, yet at the time both appeared to be solid hires because of their respective resumes. He made a solid hire with Beth Torina and appears to have made the right choice with Johnny Jones. As Hannagriff said on the post game show last night, Alleva is not going any where for now. The AD is never a popular position, but there are no major scandals in the athletic department, and the books are balanced and he just signed a new contract.
I am curious how things shake out. What do you all think?
Does LSU pull the plug and take a chance on an unknown quantity? If that hire goes bad, where does LSU go then? It could turn out well. Nick Saban was not universally accepted when he was first hired at LSU. Does LSU give Miles one more year if they don't have an adequate replacement? I think that would also be a problem too.
I don't like the idea of letting someone like Ed Ogeron a chance to run things as kind of trial. Look at what happened with John L Smith at Arkansas in 2012. Yes, Ogeron did well at USC in but LSU does not need to waste a year in limbo and recruiting would suffer. On the other hand, with Miles on the hot seat for another year, that does not either appear good.
As you can see there are no real good answers. Miles may be on the way out, but the one who really is putting himself on the hot seat is Alleva. Alleva has proved he can hire a good football coach as he hired David Cutcliffe at Duke. Duke was nothing for a long time before him. He has missed on Trent Johnson and Nikki Caldwell in basketball, yet at the time both appeared to be solid hires because of their respective resumes. He made a solid hire with Beth Torina and appears to have made the right choice with Johnny Jones. As Hannagriff said on the post game show last night, Alleva is not going any where for now. The AD is never a popular position, but there are no major scandals in the athletic department, and the books are balanced and he just signed a new contract.
I am curious how things shake out. What do you all think?
