A man of his word

Judging by Internet message boards and sports radio call-in shows, many LSU fans were convinced their team’s head football coach was heading back to his alma mater after University of Michigan coach Lloyd Carr announced his retirement Nov. 19.

Numerous media reports, including one the morning of the Southeastern Conference championship game, seemed to bear out the imminent hiring of Les Miles, a Michigan alumnus and former Wolverines assistant coach.

But people with inside knowledge of LSU athletics, including a pair of New Iberia natives, had no question that Miles would be coaching the LSU Tigers next season. It was all a matter of Miles’ character after the coach proclaimed publicly and privately he was staying at LSU, where he’s led the Tigers to a 33-6 overall mark in three years and a spot in this season’s BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7 in New Orleans.

“He wanted to stay,” said LSU Board of Supervisors President Jerry Shea Jr. of New Iberia. “He never wanted to go anywhere else. I told a lot of people that.

“I believe there was no intention on Coach Miles’ part to entertain an offer from Michigan.”

Shea said he and the rest of the leadership of the Board of Supervisors were kept informed about the situation as it developed. After Carr’s announcement, speculation immediately began that Miles was a leading candidate for the Michigan job, considering his self-professed love for his alma mater and success at LSU, including a pair of bowl blowout victories in his first two seasons in Baton Rouge. LSU’s contract with Miles includes a penalty of $1.25 million if he leaves for a job at Michigan, commonly reported as a buyout clause in the contract.

That penalty remains the same following negotiations to amend the contract earlier this month, a deal that was approved by the board on Dec. 6. Michigan’s delay in hiring a coach �” the school sought and received permission the week before the SEC championship game against Tennessee to speak with Miles �” and Miles’ own comments of love for the Wolverines program led many LSU fans to assume he was going to leave Louisiana for the Big 10, even after Miles emphatically denied any interest in the job with a press conference the morning of the SEC title game, and in numerous interviews the following week.

Those worries were not shared by the LSU athletic administration. Athletic director Skip Bertman commented regularly that he believed Miles was staying because he’d given his word to that effect, and that was the general belief in the administrative building as well.

“Les and I had talked a lot about the Michigan deal over the years,” said LSU senior associate athletic director Verge Ausberry Jr., a New Iberia Senior High graduate who played football at LSU in the late 1980s. “When he told us he was staying here, I took him at his word, and never had a fear he was leaving.”

Ausberry was on the search committee that singled out Miles as a replacement for Nick Saban, who left LSU to coach the NFL’s Miami Dolphins following the 2004 season.

“I joked with (Miles) the other day, I’m glad he and his wife made the commitment to stay here because I didn’t want to be on another search committee,” said Ausberry. “That’s a tough job.”

Miles already is the first coach in LSU history with three 10-plus win seasons and the first two win 11 games for two consecutive seasons, and now for three straight years. And he has the Tigers in the BCS title game for the second time. LSU won the championship under Saban in 2003. Miles’ success led the administration to amend his contract, with the possibility of a further pay increase if LSU beats Ohio State for the BCS championship in January.

“I think as the season went on, we would’ve done something for him no matter what,” said Ausberry, “Michigan or no Michigan.”

Saban, who began LSU’s turnaround after years of mediocrity in the 1990s, is reviled by many fans for leaving the school and then two years later accepting a job as head coach at SEC West rival Alabama. Ausberry doesn’t share those feelings.

“I was never mad at Coach Saban for leaving,” he said. “He had worked in the NFL and wanted to be back there. (When he decided to return to college), LSU wasn’t open. Nick’s still a good friend of mine. I just want to beat him every year (when LSU plays Alabama).”

Neither Shea nor Ausberry were pleased with the timing of one report of Miles’ departure for Michigan, coming as it did on the eve of the SEC title game. Neither blamed Miles for the report, however.

“Those kinds of things have to affect the young people even though they say it doesn’t,” said Shea, who added that he was pleased with the way Miles responded with an impromptu press conference denying the report. “I was sitting at his press conference two rows in front of him when he made his rebuttal.”

Ausberry knows from personal experience how tough it is concentrating on football when the coach is reportedly leaving. During his stay at LSU, coach Bill Arnsparger went to the University of Florida “just to talk” about the athletic director’s job there. Arnsparger went on to accept that job and was replaced by assistant coach Mike Archer.

“It’s always in the back of your mind, ‘Is he going to leave?’” said Ausberry. “Right before a game like that, it is a distraction. (LSU’s 21-14 win over Tennessee) shows how Les kept the composure of our team and how our players kept their composure. A lot of teams would have folded after that (report).”

With Rich Rodriguez taking the Michigan job last week, all talk of Miles heading north has finally died. That’s just fine with Shea and Ausberry, who are thrilled to see LSU in the national title game. The Tigers had to get a string of lucky breaks, including losses by No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia on the final weekend of the season, to get there.

“It had to come out that way, because I’m going to Rome with my family the day after Christmas,” Shea said with a laugh. “That was the only (major) bowl game I was going to be able to make. I’ve been saying since January that LSU was going to be in the BCS game because of that. I’m very optimistic.”

Ausberry has been part of five SEC championship teams �” two as a player and three as an administrator �” and one national championship team so far.

“If we win again, we’ll be the first team to win two BCS national championship games,” he said. “To play in the national championship game in your home state, how many times in your life do you get that opportunity? I thought last time would be the only time in my life. Now we’re going to play in another.”

And they’re doing it with the coach they both knew was going to stick around in Baton Rouge, the town he’s grown to love.

“You have to know the person you’re dealing with,” said Ausberry.

“We’re very pleased with Coach Miles,” added Shea. “We think he’s very up front and very honest.”