November 26, 2015
HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!
LES MILES
Should Les Miles continue to strive to “achieve victory” at LSU? Or, do you have “the want” to have The Hat removed? JonFineProductions.com Newsletter readers can have their say on Les Miles’ fate by e-mailing us your opinions. Please try to limit it to 100 words. We’ll print all suitable responses in next week’s newsletter
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110-32
GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR LSU, SAINTS AND BIG SPORTS FAN
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SPORTSCENTRAL
Hosts Steve Johnson and Sid Edwards take today off
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Thursday, December 3: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral… with Sid Edwards and Steve Johnson
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Saturday, November 28: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High School
Anyone have any good ideas for a topic to write about this week? How about the Saints bye week? No. The Pelicans win streak after starting 0-too many? Nah. Got it! The weather got cold fast! Ha… okay, LSU football it is.
The numbers over the last 11, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 years of LSU football have been dissected. Everyone has a strong opinion and have dug their heels in on whether Coach Miles should be retained or bought out. The national media has taken their completely uninformed stances that contradict their own statements. I do not really have anything new to add, but I think I can help decipher some of the mess with a few key points that I do not think are debatable.
First, there is no point in comparing LSU football now to LSU football in the 60s, 70s, 80, or 90s. Miami fans do not compare their program to before Schnellenberger arrived, and Florida State fans do not talk about Seminole football pre-Bobby Bowden. At home, when measuring the success of LSU baseball we do not compare what a coach does in the new Alex Box Stadium in this era of college football to what someone did with the baseball program in 1973 in the old Alex Box before Skip arrived. My examples are a little extreme, but the point is that they are different eras whose expectations are simply not comparable.
Second, what should be the expectation at LSU? This is a difficult question to answer. Certainly, it would be unfair to expect what Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are currently doing every year. It would be nice, but that expectation would lead to a revolving door every three years. That lack of stability would definitely lead to a downward spiral.
On the other hand, the 12 game schedule, the quality of facilities, and status of LSU in a talent rich state lead to high expectations. With 3 “rent-a-wins” every year and 2-3 weak SEC teams on the schedule each year, 6 wins are almost guaranteed. LSU’s season is really a 6 game season where LSU should be able to win more than of those games in most years with all its resources.
Third, there are 100,000 seats at Tiger Stadium to fill, and many consequences that come with that fact. I am as guilty as anyone, but in the world we live, why should someone spend the huge amount of time and money to go to a game in Tiger Stadium? The weather is never bad in my house, everything is cheaper, I can be highly entertained watching any number of games, and it does not take my whole day. There just are not enough people with the resources and desire to attend every LSU game no matter the product to fill the stadium. Especially, considering the fact that there are only 2-3 decent opponents in the stadium each year.
Consequently, this hurts me to say as a coach, but the LSU football coach needs to give LSU football fans a compelling reason to spend their time and resources in Tiger Stadium. The choices I see are to provide a high quality product or a highly entertaining product.
I do not think these three points provide an answer to whether Coach Miles should be retained. In addition, I think retaining Coach Miles is actually the easiest aspect to consider because you know exactly what to expect. We have all seen the product so I do not need to explain what a Les Miles coached team looks like. Depending on your standards, philosophy, and preference, you are either please or displeased with the product.
The only strong opinion I do have is that we are in an era where coaches will not be at a school for 25-40 years like in the last half of the 20th century. The competition is too great, there is too much scrutiny, too much money involved, and sports have too much of an entertainment factor now. The media is breaking down film now for crying out loud. Coaches must be willing to adapt, be on the cutting edge, and be proactive or their administration will be making changes.
I think there are some great examples in different sports. Bill Belichick and Rick Pitino (forget the off the court scandal) have always been willing to adapt. Belichick is a defensive coach that has won high scoring games, low scoring games, by running the ball effectively, throwing a ton, and with different rules for how to play defense in the secondary. When Pitino was at Providence and Kentucky his teams pressed man to man and shot a ton of threes. Now, at Louisville, his teams press differently and less frequently, and he plays zone. Again, I know these are two of the best coaches of all time in their sports, but there are many more examples of coaches having success by evolving.
It is clear, that the days of just LSU lining up on offense and pounding away with the run for four quarters while the defense and special teams totally dominate are over. LSU must evolve. They should have started evolving years ago, and now the Tigers are behind.
In baseball, LSU was on the cutting edge with Gorilla Ball, and then the bats and balls changed. It took LSU years and a couple coaching changes to catch back up. LSU football is behind the SEC West. Whether it is under Coach Miles or someone else, I hate to break the bad news, but it may take some time to catch up.
HEY REF
(Dennis Dearie takes the week off. His column, HEY REF, will resume in next week’s newsletter)
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