It’s complex to argue against the ultimate selections made by LSU & Georgia prior to now few days over the fate of their respective football coaches, Les Miles & Mark Richt. And then on top of all that, the enormous support Miles received leading up to and during the Texas A&M game, well, LSU then decided at halftime to in fact keep Miles.
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Alexander told Riegel that he made the final decision along with athletic director Joe Alleva and board members during halftime of LSU’s 19-7 win over the Aggies. He consulted with Alleva and other key members of the LSU Board of Supervisors. With such a big night on Saturday, not only was Les Miles carried off the field by his players, he was also given the game ball for everything that he has done. Alexander says the cost of the buyout and the show of public support for Miles went into the decision. However, some school officials, including president F. King Alexander, tried to intervene as early as last Wednesday to say that firing Miles was an irrational idea. While donors would have covered all or a large part of the buyout, using that money to get rid of a successful coach would have sent a bad message.
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“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”, Alexander said. A lot of people out there said we had to do something. “Somehow you have to not overreact to the emotions and weigh all the factors”.
