LSU Football: Could Les Miles Ever Be Replaced in Baton Rouge?

Head coach Les Miles has made his reputation as one of the SEC's elite coaches by being aggressive and flying by the seat of his pants.

Miles is an icon for LSU and will go down in history as one of the greatest coaches of the program and possibly of the SEC. On the other hand, the head coach makes some bizarre calls and drives fans nuts; for that, LSU fans have a love-hate relationship with Miles.

But would you really take another head coach over Miles? I'm sure there are better candidates out there, but he has been successful, and he is fun to watch. (But that's easy for me to say since I'm not an SEC fan.)

Let's break down the career of Les Miles and see if there is really another coach out there that LSU would rather have.

Bleacher Report is your home for college football for the 2011 season. From scores, news, analysis, live blogs and updates on your favorite teams and the big national games every week, keep it on Bleacher Report for the very latest in college football news.

Reasons to Take Another Coach

That's Les Miles counting the seconds on the clock making sure he has enough time to run six plays in four seconds.

Seriously though, how can a coach so talented be so half-witted on something as simple as time management?

There have been numerous times that the Tigers have been in a great position to win the game, but have blown it due to not paying attention to the clock. There have also been several times where the game was a lot closer than it should have been because of not paying attention to the clock.

Miles loves taking risks, and I'm fine with that, but when it comes to time management it's just basic stuff.

When the clock is running, you call a timeout. You don't let 17 seconds run off then decide to call your last timeout so when you convert the first down the game is over.

I don't care if my coach was Vince Lombardi himself, if he pulled something like that, I'd probably be screaming for his head also.

Reasons to Keep Les Miles

Can you argue with his 65-17 record at LSU?

How about this season?

A week away from the biggest game of the weekend against Oregon and he loses his starting quarterback, wide receiver and linebacker. Not only did the Bayou Bengals win—they dominated. They also went into Mississippi State and handed it to them as well.

With all the drama surrounding his team, most teams would have crumbled. Miles instead got his team to focus on the task at hand and led his team to victory.

Miles is a top recruiter and does more with less talent than a lot of the other SEC coaches do. In his six seasons at the school, he has taken them to six bowl games and has won five of them, which includes a Sugar Bowl victory and a National Championship in 2007.

His teams have always been ranked at some point in the season, and four times they finished in the Top 10 once the season was over.

Can you really argue with those numbers?

Good luck finding a coach off the streets who will fill in those shoes quickly.

Options out There

Now, there hasn't been much talk about Les Miles leaving lately, but let's play devil's advocate and say he does, for whatever reason.

Here are some of the possible candidates who could replace him:

Rich Rodriguez

I'll tell you this offense would be a lot more exciting if Rodriguez joined this team, that's for sure. He is 76-48 as a head coach and is currently working as an analyst for CBS Sports, but if Miles was to leave, you can bet he'd be looking to return south.

Gary Gibbs

Gibbs is currently a linebackers coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, but has experience as a defensive coordinator at Oklahoma and Georgia. He also has ties to LSU as he was the defensive coordinator for them in 2001.

You're telling me Gibbs wouldn't leave the hell he's going through in Kansas City right about now?

Gary Patterson

TCU is all up in the air right now and nobody knows if they're going to stay in the MWC or go to the Big East.

If the LSU job opens up, Patterson will listen. He took this TCU team and put them on a national level to where they were winning double-digit games almost every season. He doesn't have any ties to Louisiana, but he would be a hot candidate if the job opened up.

Overall

Despite Les Miles being quirky and making some inexplicable calls, he is great at what he does.

You can't deny the record and talent he brings in every year. It would really be hard to find a coach who could come in right away and start winning in the toughest conference in college football.

Basically, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

With the job he has done the last six years and the job he's doing this season, Miles should stay.