Well as I got blasted on the GBW boards on Saturday for saying the Les Miles train has not left the station yet and there was always a back door it seems like our own Bill Martin finally got well rested from his sailing trip this past weekend to get finally a hold of a certain former player and arrange a meeting with Miles or Miles agent (possible both) not really sure yet on how that meeting went or if they cleared the air.
Kind of take you back for those that do not really remember how things went and where things went wrong. For weeks it seemed like it was just a matter of time before Les Miles was named the head coach at Michigan even the LSU AD came out and said that if Miles wanted to go back to Michigan that he still wanted him to coach the SEC Championship game along with whatever bowl game which just so happens to be the National Championship game now. Then a few days pass by again and the LSU AD has another article in the local papers stating that they would do whatever they could to keep Miles and felt very comfortable that he would stay. During that article it was basely laid out that if Michigan wanted to contact Miles that he would appreciate it if they would wait till after the SEC Championship game.
Bill Martin on Wednesday calls the LSU AD to inform him that Michigan would like to set something up to talk with him about the Michigan head coaching job. Again the LSU AD asked Martin to please hold off till after the title game so the coaches could prepare for the game and of course Martin agreed, but should he have though? First off they did not seem to have a problem with Bo Pellini going to Nebraska for an interview during this same time and you would think the defensive coordinator would want to be more focus and study the game plan a lot more than a head coach especially one that does not call plays. Well anyway this gave LSU time to start getting thing organized and knew they had to prepare quickly and strike before Michigan had a chance. The LSU AD is on his way out sometime in the summer of 2008 so in some regards he could do whatever he needed to so to secure Miles.
Well Friday came and that is when the wheels started to fall off for Michigan in several ways. First off a lot of this is hear say and speculation. I just wanted to point that out first, but it seems that on Friday LSU came with a big proposal for Miles and told him he had to make a decision before the game on Saturday. The rumor is he was offered 3.4 million for seven year contract a lot higher number than was ever discussed before or even talked about between him and friends of his about the Michigan job. Here is some of the speculation and do not know if it is true or not, but supposable they told Miles he had to agree to it before the game or they would let Bo Pelini take over in the SEC Championship game, I find that really hard to believe, but it has been out there and a lot of chatter from several people that seem like they knew what was going on during this time.
Well of course Miles is stunned and does not know what to do with the offer along with the ultimatum. He wants to coach in the game of course because he loves those kids and he does not want his distraction to become their distraction as well while trying to win a football game. He calls his Michigan buddy (former player) and does not know what to do and that they have set a deadline. All the back chatter with Miles, his friend and some people associated to Michigan never really struck a deal it was more of the money situation was okay by both sides, who he would possible keep on staff, but nothing was ever said that he was the next coach or that he had the job it was all just the beginning stages and they both parties thought that on Sunday they could strike a deal.
LSU threw a wrench in that plan so Friday night Miles buddy tries to reach Martin all night long until 2:00 am, but no call back and nothing on Saturday morning. They did not know if Michigan was blowing them off or what was really going on then before college game day comes on Kirk Herbstreit breaks in and says Les Miles to Michigan and along with that he was going to bring Jon Tenuta who was the DC at Georgia Tech (now interim head coach). Then again on college game day "Herbie" goes more in depth about it and of course everybody hears this and the LSU people are irate and think that Miles went behind their back and got a better deal after they spoke. More speculation here that Miles call his buddy and said did you talk with anybody he said no and he is not answering his phone now either. Miles is ticked off to say the least and top it all off he thinks that Michigan might have leaked it and also they are ignoring him and blowing him off.
The LSU AD people was again ticked off and told Miles either you agree to the deal or you are not coaching we are not going to have this hanging over our team for this game. Miles think Michigan blew him off so he tells them we have a deal and schedule a press conference so at almost 2:00 p.m. Miles appears in front of the cameras and says he was the LSU coach and will be the LSU while leaving the door open when he left. Later in the day he had another interview while his buddy still did not get a hold of anybody and he told the woman reporter again he was the LSU coach and would be and that included next year. The reason while nobody was answering the phone supposable at Michigan is they went sailing and was not anywhere in range of a cell tower.
After the game of course it was very emotional with them getting the win and had a pretty long press conference having conversations about his past at Michigan, Bo and his future at LSU. He said he was home now at LSU and even had his boys come up for pictures in their LSU the scout.com LSU site had an exclusive interview and you could see the emotion in his voice and his face as he talked about Michigan almost like he just lost his best friend, dog, girlfriend type of emotion as he spoke. He evens introduced his whole family to the media with his wife coming up and his daughter off camera almost like this was his first meeting with them instead of being their third year at LSU.
The thing is after what happened on Saturday Martin made a call to Miles agent on Sunday about possible setting something up. Well the call did not go very well when Martin tells the agent that Miles was one candidate on the list and that they wanted to do an interview process after Miles just found out he would probably be playing in the national championship game against Ohio State. He of course did not like that answer especially since he went to school at Michigan, played football at Michigan, met his wife at Michigan and coached at Michigan twice while now leading the LSU Tigers to the title game and probably be named coach of the year.
On Sunday LSU finds out they are in the national championship game and will face the buckeyes. On Monday he was on several shows and in this my maize and blue glasses opinion he was almost begging Michigan to talk with him. Both times he did interviews he was asked about the Michigan job and both times he said I WAS NEVER OFFERED THE MICHIGAN JOB AND I HAVEN'T TALKED TO BILL MARTIN DIRECTLY ABOUT THE So again there seemed to be hope again that a deal might be able to happen after our hearts were ripped out and stepped on not only because of Miles was supposed to come to Michigan, but he was bringing one of the best defensive coordinators in the business Jon Tenuta form Georgia Tech with him.
Then on Tuesday rumbling was that Martin met with Miles agent in person nobody seems to know really if or when this meeting took place and of course how things stand. So for Michigan fans if you hope for Miles there still has a lot of miles to go to get this done, but it is looking a lot better than it did all day Saturday. I believe Miles was put in a bad spot because he did not know whether he had the job and if all the little things have been worked out from his skeletons in his closet. The thing is Martin was feeling a lot of heat from the donors/fans/alumni/ticket holders/former players about not landing Miles. I think he knows his legacy of being a AD at Michigan will rest not on what he has done on campus with all the renovations and new buildings for the athletic complex, but for whom he hires as the next football coach. I believe Martin needs to figure when Miles and he meet if he is the guy and let him know right then and there. Does that mean Carr won't be looking over his shoulder in the AD's office ... could be ... Of course this (IMO) like normally.
This wednesday might be the new day in the Michigan football program and what might happen for the next ten years. Bill Martin is going to basically ask the committee if Les Miles is worth telling Lloyd Carr to leave the program for good and don't come back or take the conservative way out and grant Lloyd Carr and Mary Sue Coleman their wish and hire Kirk Ferentz so Carr can stick around the program? If your on the committee what would you say to Martin?
What a long week and very stressful if your a Michigan football fan who has been watching every little detail about the search and what will happen with recruiting
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