Les Miles Lost Job Because He Failed To Evolve

September 27, 2016 by CFP Staff

Les Miles' downfall ultimately came down to the talent of Nick Saban, and it wasn't even really Miles' fault that people kept comparing him to Saban. You didn't really need to analyze the latest college football betting lines to know that Miles was heading for the door.

Everyone could see that he had refused to evolve on offense; all the games he won in the past couldn't save Miles from himself.

Now that Miles is gone, Saban has become the longest-tenured SEC Coach. A number of coaches have come and gone at 13 other schools since Saban made his appearance in 2007, and since then he has racked up all sorts of accolades.

To appreciate Saban's abilities, you have to remember that there were once five SEC coaches with a national title back 2008. That number has dwindled to two head coaches with a national title.

Gus Malzahn got lucky; if things on Saturday had gone differently, Gus might have been the one losing his job instead of Miles. Sufficing to say, he doesn't quite compare to Saban who has won the majority (76 percent) of his career SEC games.

It could be argued that LSU has been falling since their loss to Alabama back in 2012. At one point in time, LSU was poised to enter the history books as one of the all-time greats.

They beat the Tigers and eight ranked teams back in 2011, this including Oregon and Arkansas, and their roster gave birth to a number of future NFL draft picks. LSU was set to keep ascending, that is until their game against Alabama in 2012.

LSU had everything but a quarterback, and they lost rather miserably.

Saban had known for a while that football was changing; and, like Miles, he didn't really like it. Listen to some of his interviews from 2012 and his comments will speak volumes about his distaste for some of the trends in Football.

However, Saban showed a willingness to change; he understood Alabama's need for players that could help them win shootouts. By this point, he had begun to evolve his tempo. You could see it in the way Saban was spreading formations and changing run-pass play options depending on the skills of his quarterback.

Saban continued to adapt to the game while Miles stuck to offenses that were clearly built for a different time. Miles is stubborn to a fault. He was nearly fired in 2015, and even that scare did little to compel him to change his offensive coordinators.

LSU's offensive concepts remained static even when they were failing to produce results on the field (delivering less than 150 passing yards in 17 of the last 30 games). You could call Miles arrogant in this regard. Maybe he thought he could succeed without changing.

Miles has always strived to follow in the footsteps of his old coach Schembechler, and that mentality was his downfall. He couldn't emulate Saban, who realized that Hayes' ideas couldn't deliver results in this century.

There is little point in talking about a Saban/Miles rivalry now, considering how far Miles has fallen, and everyone agrees that he dug his own grave.