Les no more

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to talk football again. To my non-football loving readers, I must apologize. I thought it was all out of my system.

ESPN.com's Doug Gottlieb is reporting that Les Miles has accepted the head coach position at LSU. I'd say Doug is a pretty good source (OSU grad), so I'm believing it.

It's been a long time since OSU lost a head coach in a major sport due to him being hired away by another program. Usually they resign because they stink or they are fired. This is a weird feeling.

Les has been great for our football program. He's run a first class operation, taken us to 3 straight bowl games, and given Bob Stoops fits. I don't know how we could have asked for more.

To those loyal O-Staters who will whine and cry in the next days wondering why Les would leave OSU for LSU, you need to take off your orange-colored glasses and get a grip. LSU is a way better job. I don't like him leaving any more than you do, but he has to do what's best for his career. LSU is a much bigger stage with many more resources and much more potential. If his career goal really is to be the next head coach at Michigan, then moving to LSU is the next logical step.

The only thing that frustrates me is this: We gave Les a chance of a lifetime. He was a tight ends coach for the Dallas Cowboys when we handed him the reigns in Stillwater. Were it not for OSU, it could have been years before he was given a chance to be a head coach. I wish that would be worth a little more loyalty than a mere 4 years. Oh, well.

Les leaves us with Mike Gundy. (Let's get real here - Mike is going to be the next head coach. He was almost hired last time.) No one wants Mike to succeed any more than I do. He has been fiercly loyal to OSU for the past 15 years. But I have my reservations. Mike's play calling at times has been very questionable, and he's admitted it himself (see his comments after the Texas Tech game this year). Let's just hope he surrounds himself with some very good assistant coaches. Hopefully this role will fit Mike better - head cheerleader and recruiter, not play caller. We can hope, anyway.

Now, what was that about fireworks stands I was going to talk about???