Les Miles to get salary increase and contract extension to remain at LSU
Les Miles will stay at LSU, and he will be quite a rich man for it.
LSU announced that Miles will get a contract extension and salary increase, one day after a report from Sports by Brooks, followed by a confirmation from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, said that Arkansas made a five-year, $27.5 million offer.
No need to worry about that anymore. Miles isn't going anywhere.
"Our intent was to address his contract following this year's bowl game, but speculation about other job opportunities accelerated our process a little," LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said in the news release. "I think we have accomplished the important step of securing Les Miles as our head coach for the long-term good of the program."
LSU said specifics of the new deal were being worked out, and the raise and extension would kick in after the Tigers' bowl game. Miles' current salary is $3.751 million, plus postseason and academic incentives, according to the Times-Picayune.
If this move was in response to a legitimate offer from Arkansas, and not just some elaborate scare tactic that cost LSU millions for no real reason, the most interesting part of this story becomes the Razorbacks' coaching search going forward.
If Arkansas is offering anywhere near that kind of money that it reportedly offered Miles (and logic leads one to believe it was at least more than $3.751 million per year, if there was an offer), there will be no shortage of interested candidates. Almost every coach in America would at least have to pause if Arkansas dangled that kind of money their way.
This is an enormous hire for Arkansas after the Bobby Petrino fiasco. The Razorbacks have to hit a home run, and they look ready to take a pretty big swing for the fences.
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