Can Les Miles Get LSU Back To BCS Glory in 2010 and Beyond?

When Les Miles took over the Louisiana State Tigers Football team in January of 2005, he was looking to continue a storied tradition that consistently had LSU football as one of the top programs in the nation.

Miles went 11-2 in his first two seasons as LSU's head honcho and helped the Tigers to first and second place SEC West finishes in those respective years.

In Miles' third year, 2007, he took the Tigers to new heights with a national championship victory over the Ohio State University after another solid season in which his team went 12-2.

When Miles and LSU won the national title in 2007, it seemed as that the Louisiana State faithful could forget about Nick Saban and that Miles was going to bring the Tigers to new heights, possibly even higher than Saban or other coaches had taken the Tigers in the past.

As for this belief, the jury is still out on it.

LSU ended up going 8-5 in the 2008 season and finished a disappointing third place in the SEC West. 2009 saw the Tigers go 9-4 while finishing second place in the SEC West but also losing in the Capital One Bowl Game against Penn State.

After the last two above average season for Miles, one in which LSU wasn't even ranked when the season ended, the questions have begun to circle about Coach Miles and if he is really as great of a coach that many thought when he won the school a national championship just three short years ago.

Many contest that Nick Saban was responsible for initially recruiting many of the players that helped win Miles the title in '07.

The question became: Was Les Miles benefiting from a great plethora of talent that was already in place, or did he still coach these guys up to their potential?

That question has become more and more relevant the longer it takes for Miles to get his team back to national title contenders again.

After all, LSU had been ranked in the Top 10 at the end of the season in Miles' first three seasons and has failed to do so in the last two seasons.

When Miles first took over as head coach of the program, and even for the first few years, he had the excuse of not being able to get many of his own guys on the team.

However, this is no longer the case anymore.

Heck, Miles is running out of excuses these days, and everyone in and around the Tiger program knows it. He even has a Top 10 recruiting class coming in this year.

Tigers fans will find out a lot in 2010 and in the coming years about Les Miles and his ability to recruit talent and help that talent reach its maximum potential.

Going into this coming season, the three questions surrounding Mr. Miles have become:

Will he build his own legacy at LSU before he is done?

Will he always been known as a guy who greatly benefited from Nick Saban?

Did he learn from the national championship team and how to recruit more winners?

No one knows the answer to these questions yet, and it might be awhile before anyone really knows the answers.

However, the LSU's 2010 season's results could foreshadow what is to come for Miles and co. along with their chances at returning to BCS Championship glory.