LSU AD Joe Alleva admits he 'looked at options' for potential new coach
Nearly a week after deciding to stick with Les Miles as LSU’s head coach, Tigers athletic director Joe Alleva admitted Friday that he “looked at options” for a potential head coaching change.
In an interview with The Advocate, Alleva said he’s now ready to move forward with Miles as his head coach, but said there would be some changes made – namely on offense.
From The Advocate:
LSU athletic director Joe Alleva broke his silence Friday, saying he “looked at options” and made “inquiries” regarding a potential new football coach, but those ended four days before the Tigers’ regular-season finale against Texas A&M.
In a 15-minute interview from his office, Alleva, the eighth-year athletic director, said he’s fully behind Les Miles and that the two have agreed that offensive changes need to be made moving forward.
“My plans are to help Les Miles win and be the coach here until he wants to retire. My goal is to help the man win,” Alleva said.
As the final few weeks of the regular season came to a close, numerous reports circulated about Miles’ job status. As the speculation persisted leading into LSU’s regular season finale against Texas A&M, Alleva told The Advocate that he wishes he would have “said something.” Instead, Alleva remained silent until he addressed reporters after the Tigers beat the Aggies and said that Miles would remain head coach.
“The key here is moving forward,” Alleva told The Advocate. “Les is our guy, he’s our coach. We’re going to support him.”
The Advocate reported Thursday that representatives from LSU had discussions with representatives for Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher about Miles’ job before Alleva and other higher-ups ultimately decided to stick with Miles.
LSU started the season 7-0 and climbed up to No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings, but after the team lost its next three games, Alleva admitted that the school explored other options.
“We made some inquiries,” he said. “There’s talk about negotiations. There were no negotiations. There were inquiries made. There’s a big difference between inquiries and negotiations.
“At the end of the day, after doing due diligence, we came to the conclusion that Les Miles is the right man for the job, and we’re going to back him 100 percent and support him and help him win at the highest level.”
Ultimately it was the decision of Alleva and school president F. King Alexander to keep Miles. Alleva said that news was relayed to Miles in a meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 25 – four days before the A&M game.
Nonetheless, Alleva said he and Miles agreed that changes on offense are necessary.
From The Advocate:
Alleva said he and Miles have agreed that offensive changes need to be made, but the athletic director said that doesn’t necessarily mean staff changes are in order. Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is in the final year of a contract that runs through March and pays him $1.5 million.
“People get hung up on personnel changes,” the AD said. “I still believe people can change the way they do things. Doesn’t mean they have to change personnel, but you can change how that person does things. Les has been committed to me (and) he understands there has to be some changes made.”
Alleva said Miles and he have not discussed Cameron’s future, “but I’m sure we will in the very near future.”
“I would never tell a coach who their assistant coach is,” Alleva said. “I’m not going to tell Les who his coaches are. That’s his responsibility. That’s his job — to pick his coaches.”
The 62-year-old Miles has been at LSU for 11 seasons and has a 111-32 overall record.
For more LSU news, visit TigerBait.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
