When Lloyd Carr stepped down as Michigan's head football coach, all hell broke loose. "Sailboat" Bill Martin decided it was a good time to jump on his boat for a quick vacation and LSU under head coach Les Miles was making a run to the National Championship. ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit made his most embarrassing miss ever on TV, when he said that Les and Michigan had an agreement to be the Wolverines next head coach. It was a complete cluster.
We all know the details, Les and Michigan couldn't come to terms. Was it the National Championship game? Was it the rumored divide between Les and Lloyd Carr? But this decision alone has set Michigan Football back 12 years. That was 2007 and the decision to hire Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke means that our storied program hasn't won a Big Title and beat Ohio State once. This ride has almost been "curse" like.
Les was the top coach in college football, a National Champion, and a former Wolverine. It seemed like a perfect fit, but it really wasn't. Les eventually flamed out at LSU as the pressure to beat Nick Saban was too great and his offense to predictable. He has struggled to find a head coaching job ever since and even (rumored) to have been turned down by the likes of Western Michigan.
Les now has taken over one of the worst programs in college football in Kansas. He has a new lease on life and is starting to think back of what could have been.
“I love Michigan,” Miles said. “We just didn’t have the opportunity. It does break my heart. I love the place. There were things I was fortunate to accomplish that I only give credit to Michigan for the experiences I had that allowed me to do some of things I did. I thank the time I was there and how much I enjoyed being around the Michigan players and Coach (Bo) Schembechler.
“It didn’t work out and I’m sad that it didn’t.”
“It did not have to do with the amount of money, it had to do with the decisions that would be made on behalf of Michigan if in fact I would be the head football coach. I just needed some backing and some strength. It was probably too far away. It’s certainly a place I loved. Sometimes it’s just not in the cards.”
As Michigan has fumbled its way through head coaching searches and hires (prior to Jimmy), I don't know how many times I've heard "Talking heads" mention that, "Les has turned down Michigan twice now!" That just isn't true. Though I sometimes think what might have happened if Les did leave LSU for Michigan after the NC game. Would the past 12 years of hell not happened? We will never know.
Time to move on and win some damn championships.
The Michigan Difference - Larry Prout Jr. and Tom Brady from last night.
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