Miles, Etc.

A general summary of things that have been sent to me.

A source close to someone on the search committee asserts that Miles is not a done deal and that there will be a real search; Miles will interview shortly after the SEC championship game but there remains an A list of five or so coaches, including Miles, that Michigan is looking at closely.

On the other side of things, someone relays that email traffic between various big-balling donors says Miles is done and will be announced Monday or Tuesday; two other sources, one from the LSU side of things, are in agreement.

IMO, the preponderance of the evidence is on the side of "it's done," especially with the stuff about the players being told from this morning.

This from a student manager around both Miles and Carr when they were on staff:

I found both Lloyd and Les to be decent, down-to-earth people. Les did have a lot of charisma and intensity back then as he does today. He also could be pretty funny at times. Cameron may have thought he could walk on water a bit because he was credited with putting in some semblance of a consistently efficient passing attack at the end of Bo's tenure (with the QB/WR development of Jim Harbaugh, Greg McMurtry, Chris Calloway, Desmond Howard, and Elvis Grbac), but if he wasn't humbled by his tenure at Indiana, he certainly is now. Never got the impression Miles was more arrogant than the next football coach (there is a certain degree of an asshole/prick factor that comes with the job.)

Cameron left I thought in '92 or '93 to go the Redskins. Also, Miles went to work for a former Colorado colleague, Bob Simmons at Oklahoma State to become offensive coordinator. Moeller never named an offensive coordinator during his tenure, despite being the position he held from '87-'89 as the only OC of the Schembechler era. Maybe Miles and Cameron's departures were to beef up their resume with NFL and OC experience since it was clear Moeller was never going to have an offensive coordinator. If, however, Miles left after Moeller's resignation in May 1995 and Fred Jackson was promoted to OC over him, that may be a different story concerning the origins of this "Les-Lloyd rift."

It seems that Bo was always fond of Les, recalling Miles visiting him after his open heart surgery in his book. If Moeller had coached another 5-10 years, Miles would have been the successor (either directly promoted as a UofM assistant or from Oklahoma State/Dallas Cowboys) with Bo's public blessing. If we're talking anywhere between 2000-2005, Lloyd probably would have been too old at that point to start a head coaching tenure. Lloyd actually interviewed for the Wisconsin job after the '89 season, but the job went to Barry Alvarez.

The generally held opinion on the rift between Miles and Carr -- which I believe to be real -- was that it started three or four years ago when Miles started recruiting against Michigan regularly and apparently told some kids that Carr was retiring. The nastier version of the story goes that Carr's supposed health issues were also relayed. Depending on your POV and which side of the story you tend to believe, this is either a misunderstanding or PURE EVIL.

The upshot: given everything out there at the moment, I would be very surprised if it was anyone other than Miles; the aggressive timeline is a bit shakier given what looks like real resistance to the idea from some camps in the athletic department.

IMO: Miles expects an offer and will take it if he gets one; he told the team as much. Pro-Miles people in the AD expect to offer him Sunday after the SECCG and announce early in the week; Anti-Miles people in the AD are hoping to delay, interview some other guys, and possibly find someone else.