Les Miles still has a job as the head coach of the LSU Tigers, but it certainly didn’t look good for the Mad Hatter entering the final weekend of the college football regular season.
Somewhere in between the start of the season finale against Texas A&M and the end of it, Miles’ job status went from done to still here. However, one had to wonder where all the detailed information from the inner workings of the LSU board was coming from.
According to a report from WVUE in New Orleans, nearly 2,000 e-mails obtained indicated board members knew the source of the nearly month-long leaks that were happening. Still, nothing was done about them?
The report shows e-mails talking about the leak between LSU athletic director Joe Alleva and board member Blake Chatelain. However, it was also clear that the parties knew not to talk about too much via e-mail, as they were public records.
Said e-mail’s read like this:
“Leak. I know where,” Alleva wrote. “I told you on phone.”
Chatelain expressed frustration in his response.
“That leak has caused problems thorough out this ordeal,” he wrote. “Put us all in tight spots. Would not do anything about it. Just be careful. Will discuss in person when we can.”
It certainly sounds fishy, given the knowledge of whom that leak came from and the lack of any action about it. The damage that could have been done to Miles and the reputation of LSU seems too significant to not do anything about it, unless the figure at the center of the leaks was also that important.
To say Chatelain was unhappy with the sordid affair would be an understatement, as he sent the following after the decision to keep Miles was made:
“The lesson learned here is how rapid and vicious the 24 hour news cycle and the social media impact is on matters like this,” he wrote. “We can learn from this and be better prepared in future. I will say , that most of the feedback I have received from fans sounds like this ‘it was probably the right decision to keep Les’ – but I sure hope he was given the message that the program has problems that need addressing This my friends was one of the most fluid, complex, confusing situations I have ever seen [sic].”
Having this whole thing play out so publicly was a black eye to the LSU athletic department, board members and most importantly to Les Miles, who did not deserve this in the least. He certainly deserved better than details of how boosters were lining up to pay his $15 million buyout.
Miles’ Tigers finished the season with a 19-7 win over Texas A&M and enter a bowl game against Texas Tech with a 9-3 record.