LSU Football: The Pros and Cons of Les Miles

With Les Miles as head coach, the LSU Tigers have won a national championship and have posted a 62-17 record. They are 3-0 to start this season and have looked like one of the elite programs in the country in doing so.

But there is also a downside to Miles: His nickname is “The Mad Hatter,” and he got it for good reason.

He frequently calls very odd plays during the game and has displayed very poor clock management skills. Sometimes he manages to luck his way into victories like he did against Tennessee in 2010.

So should LSU fans look over the negative and accept the wins and recruits Miles brings, or should they fire him and move on to a more sound coach?

Pro: Miles Brings Attention to the Program

Much like Rex Ryan does for the Jets, Les Miles keeps the attention of national media in Baton Rouge.

His unconventional style makes him an interesting story to cover, and even when his team is down like in 2008, people will continue to talk about the Tigers.

Con: Miles Brings Attention to Himself

For all of the great publicity LSU gets because of Miles, a lot of it is directed towards Miles and not the players on the field.

This has to be unbelievably frustrating, especially when the Tigers are not doing so well on the field. It makes Miles an easy target for criticism and ridicule, but a lot of the time, the players are the ones that need criticism and not the coaches.

Pro: History of Winning

There are not many coaches in the country that win as many games as Miles. He has never finished worse than third in the tough SEC West and has all but one bowl game he has coached in at LSU.

The Tigers consistently rank among the elite teams in the country and are almost always in the hunt for the SEC title. Alabama and Auburn have fielded some incredible teams in the past few years, so while they may have beaten LSU, that still should not detract from the rest of the wins he gets during the season.

Pro: Recruiting

During his tenure, the Tigers have never ranked worse than 11th in the Rivals recruiting rankings. That is astonishingly good.

If you start at LSU, you can make it in the NFL—and kids know that. Les Miles helps them get there and should be considered the main reason why so many of the top kids come to Baton Rouge.

Conclusion: Keep Him

Somehow, through all of his antics, Les Miles wins football games, and at the end of the day, that is all that should really matter.

He brings the best kids in from around the country and uses a strategy of keeping his team in the spotlight. It may backfire from time to time, and he serves as a lightning rod of criticism for many diehard fans, but he gets the job done.

Plus, who exactly would replace him? Until he fails to win, bring in recruits or an elite coach goes on the market, Les Miles should be the coach at LSU.