re: Bielema>Muschamp>Mullen>Miles

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I doubt if anyone ever wins any NC at Arkansas.

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FIFY

ETA so much dumb in this thread I'll stop bumping it.

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Bernie Moore
Bielema>Muschamp>Mullen>Miles
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SmackoverHawg

Mad because y'all whiffed on Gundy?

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And Smart. And Gruden. And Peterson. And Malzahn.
Bret Bacon-enema

Wait hold up....Is Miles to Arkansas what Saban is to some LSU fans?

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There is no denying that Saban put Lsu on the map nationally and made it a destination school for prospects coast to coast. I think he made miles job a lot easier. Les was a good, not great coach at oklahoma state when he was hired. He had never won the big 12. I don't think it's far fetched to think that Les wouldn't have had near the success if he was Dinardo's successor rather than Saban's successor.

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Saban never won the Big 10 either at Michigan State. His record and Miles' record are very comparable as HCs before arriving at LSU. Saban over 5 years won 58% of his games at MSU. Miles won 57% of his games at OSU over 4 years. Miles had the best record of any coach at OSU over the 30 years prior to his becoming HC at arguably a more difficult place to win than Michigan State. So the presumption that Miles could not have "awakened" LSU is not all that well supported. He did at least as good a job at OSU as Saban did at MSU.

He would have inherited a lot of talent already in place at LSU, just as Saban did. While DiNardo screwed up royally his last two seasons at LSU (thanks primarily to Lou Tepper's abysmal defense), he had recruited a lot of talent and had turned the recruiting around in Louisiana. Saban didn't walk into a bare cupboard, though he certainly deserves a lot of credit (along with the then Chancellor Mark Emmert, whose role in the rise of LSU football gets overshadowed by Saban's).

It is actually not far fetched to think that Miles would have been extremely successful at LSU had he followed DiNardo instead of Saban. Everything was in place- good recruiting base, a supportive administration, and talent on the team in place already (which formed the base of Saban's first SEC championship team in 2001).

People have consistently underestimated Miles. But he is the winningest coach in LSU history by winning percentage(beyond the one or two who coached for one or two seasons in the early days), no. 2 in total wins, and one of the top 5 or so coaches in SEC history. He is also the teh third longest serving coach in LSU history. You don't get to that position just on raw talent. And despite the fact that it is often said any coach can win at LSU, history says it isn't true. If it were true at LSU then schools like Alabama, USC, Texas, Florida and Notre Dame should never have poor seasons. But, just like LSU, all of those teams with all their history and success still struggle without the right coach in place, just like LSU struggled to be successful without the right coach. Miles isn't perfect, but he is one of the most successful coaches in the country historically and certainly currently. And it isn't dumb luck that makes it so.