So how close was Les Miles to being fired? Well, based on all the speculation surrounding his job status in the final weeks of the regular season, it certainly seemed like the end was at hand for the Mad Hatter in Baton Rouge. The president of the school has now let us know just how close it was.
The decision to retain Miles was reached during halftime of LSU's game against Texas A&M, according to LSU president F. King Alexander, who added that decision had "pretty much been made" a few days earlier. However, it wasn't until a halftime meeting with athletic director Joe Alleva and members of the LSU Board of Supervisors that the final decision was actually made.
“It was a combination of factors and a decision that we made collectively,” Alexander told Baton Rouge Business Report. “We weighed all the factors in all this and it was a joint decision between many of our board members, our AD and many of us decided this was the wrong time and wrong place (to replace Miles.)
“After the type of budget battle we went through this past spring we certainly do not need to be throwing tens of millions of dollars around under certain circumstances,” he says. “We don’t need to go into the next legislative session with a black eye that we’re throwing tens of millions of dollars around on issues that aren’t associated with academic progress.”
Alexander also said that the public support for Miles in the final days also played a part in the decision, but he sure makes it sound like the only thing that really saved Les wasn't love as much as it was the money.
That has to feel good if you're Les Miles, though I suppose the knowledge of knowing the school can't fire you without paying you a bunch of money softens the blow a bit.
Wink of the CBS eye to Football Scoop
According to LSU president F. King Alexander,
