Les Miles and more defense

As our dear friend Golden mentioned a few days ago, and as I have mentioned here before, I don't think that Les Miles to Michigan is the slam dunk everyone seems to think it is. Internet rumors are shaky at best, but often times if you see similar type things being hinted at in different places, there is some measure (albeit a small one at times) of truth that can be taken from them(i.e. the old smoke fire thing). The stories being hinted at concerning LSU current football coach revolve around personal and professional transgressions when he was on the staff here at Michigan. Whether the stories are true or not isn't as important as the impression that there are some people at the University who might not want to bring him back. His two biggest selling points as a potential UofM coach are his habit of hiring good assistants and his familiarity with the school. If there are people who don't want him here, that cancels out one of his two assets.

Miles has to be careful here that he doesn't get Glen Masoned. When the OSU job was open before Tressel was hired, Mason made no secret about his desire to return to his alma mater to coach. When the job went to Tressel, Mason lost a lot of credibility at Minnesota. You can bet right now that Saban, Meyer, and other coaches are contacting every one of the LSU's recruits and telling them Miles is as good as gone.

The bottom line, I think, is that the start of the season has given the AD, Bill Martin (who wasn't here when Miles was here) more freedom to hire whomever he feels is the best candidate, regardless of their connections to the university. I don't think Miles will be that candidate unless they miss on some other choices.