The Hook and Lateral

Oh, boy……..is this Nick Saban to Alabama, part deux? The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Miles and Michigan AD, Bill Martin, have been in contact again. Even though Miles signed a contract extension at LSU and aggressively denied leaving for Michigan, rumors still swirl. Many people close to Miles believe Michigan was always his dream job (c’mon, he cried over it earlier this year) and that this has not changed. Could he be using some of the cards from Nick Saban’s deck but just adding his own touch (actually signing a contract extension at his current job)? Is he going to turn around after the BCS Championship Game and accept the Michigan job? To be honest with you, I have no idea, and I don’t think anybody else does either. In this season of college football, one would be hard-pressed to deny the possibility of anything happening short of Bear Bryant and Bo Schembechler being raised from the dead to coach again.

If he does go, however, how else would anyone have liked for him to handle the situation? His players were about to play for the SEC Championship, with a win giving them a infinitesimally small chance of going to the BCS Championship Game. Cover all your bases, Miles. Make sure you have something to fall back on if your dream job falls through.

**Begin rant**
I do honestly believe that these coaches receive much worse than they deserve when searching for jobs. The only things different from a coach’s job search and a engineer’s job search are multi-million dollar contracts and publicity. If you had a job, but someone called and said that they were interested in hiring you and possibly paying you more in a part of the country that you love, what would you do? You most certainly wouldn’t run to your boss’s office and declare that you might be leaving (unless you wanted a raise to stay). No, you would sit back and see what happens before doing anything.

The problem is publicity and media. Big-name coaches can’t “sit back and see what happens” without a number of cameras in their faces asking if they had spoken with someone else about another job. Of course they’re going to say that they are staying and have not spoken with anyone. Why would you jeopardize your current situation if nothing is set in stone at the next place. You always need something to fall back on that doesn’t involve UTEP (sorry, Mike Price). Sometimes the ridiculous dissemination of information with today’s media, forums, and blogosphere (thanks, TH&L) would be enough to make anyone lie. The media almost forces coaches into situations in which any of the possible outcomes are undesirable. If you leave the door open for any possibility by being vague, then people will continue to speculate and ask you more questions and bother your players and other coaches. If you attempt to close the door, the questions will slow, but then if you turn around and accept the other job, you have people (Le Betard) claiming you are next Benedict Arnold.

In the end, it’s a lose-lose situation, but it’s sure to make someone involved rich. Good luck, Les Miles. You’re rich and happy either way, but you’ll still be described as a lying bastard by those dirty media scoundrels (except the good people, like us).