LSU’s President Is Reportedly Responsible For Calling Off The Firing Of Les Miles

Bogey Wells10 years ago

What a tumultuous week it has been in Baton Rouge. What began as nothing more than anger and resentment due to some horrific performances on the field turned into what now appears to be much more than just smoke. There was fire. It was hot. It came close to putting an end to the career of LSU’s nutty head football coach, but just as it reached arm’s length, LSU’s president doused the flames with the buckets of tears he had been saving in a back office since learning his school wouldn’t actually lose any funding due to state budget cuts.

None of these reports are confirmed, and it’s likely we’ll never know exactly what went down in LSU’s athletic department over the past seven days. Everyone has a source, but if this particular source is to be believed, LSU’s President F. King Alexander couldn’t stand spreading the idea that LSU had money, and with that, the removal of LSU’s coach was put to an end.

From The Hayride:

But Alexander, it’s said, didn’t want the appearance of committing to “$50 million” for football while LSU is in dire financial straits. This is of a piece with the decision earlier this year to halt construction of the school’s athletic nutrition center, a dressed-up name for an athletic dining hall, with money from donors earmarked specifically for that project, because at the time LSU’s budget situation was uncertain and Alexander was in the midst of a political and PR campaign to lobby the legislature to raise taxes rather than cut his budget. LSU has more funding now than ever before, thanks to an increase in tuition and fees paid by students which has displaced, and then some, the state general fund dollars which used to make up the bulk of its revenue. But Alexander, largely for ideological purposes, takes the position that if LSU isn’t funded through the state general fund it isn’t funded at all, and tuition from students even if it’s paid for through the state’s TOPS program doesn’t make his budget work.

That’s a wall of text. I am aware. It’s a good read, though.

If LSU didn’t appear to be broke, F. King wouldn’t have a leg to stand on in regards to begging the state for more money. This makes sense from a purely academic standpoint — one in which hiring professors, expanding the campus, and furthering your legacy is the end goal. When a contract is being almost entirely funded by private donations, however, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong is entirely uncalled for.

And Alleva, or the powers that be who he represents, touched off a two-week media firestorm surrounding Miles’ future by leaking word to Rabalais that he was coaching for his job in the final two weeks of the season…for, as it turns out, no reason. If the stories are true, Alleva had leveraged private money in order to upgrade the LSU football program and reinject it with energy and lifeblood by making one of the largest coaching hires in the history of college football, and promptly had his legs cut out from under him because of politics.

Joe Alleva, LSU’s Athletic Director, didn’t appear to be too happy to announce that Les Miles would remain with the program next season. Of course, studying body language is in no way a means of confirming reports, but damn, it’s hard to not feel as though releasing those words was one of the hardest things that man has ever done while in that position.

It doesn’t take a confirmed report to realize that some shady shit took place within the confines of the stately oaks that engulf LSU’s campus. Something ugly went down behind the scenes, and it very well may have come straight from the top..

[via The Hayride]

Image via SEC Network