A week after being fired, Les Miles seems to be taking the end of his LSU tenure about as well as he could be.
In an interview with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi that aired on College GameDay on Saturday, Miles was asked why he felt he had been fired and answered like this:
“I’m certain that they wanted more production, that they wanted more wins. I understand.”
The former Tigers coach then said he was proud of his final play at LSU, a potential game-winning touchdown against Auburn that was called back after it was ruled the clock had run up just before the snap.
Miles has always seemed like a stand-up guy, and in this interview he expressed no regrets and no hard feelings. He admitted that if LSU had snapped the ball a second earlier last week he might still have a job but said he wasn’t hung up on what could have been.
“I’m not a guy that bemoans history. History played out, and on Sunday Joe Alleva in a very heartfelt way said ‘I’ve got to make a change.’ And that’s his call, it’s not my call.”
Then Rinaldi asked Miles what he’ll be doing Saturday, when LSU hosts Missouri in Baton Rouge:
“This Saturday will be a difficult thing for me. I may just get in the backyard, walk around, make some calls and sweat. And around 7:00, I think those Tigers come on, so I’ll be right there.”
Miles said he wants to continue coaching, and he will undoubtedly get another job somewhere (though some of us would like to see him on TV), but it’s good that he’s not too devastated at losing the job in which he won 148 games and a national title.
[ESPN]
