My simple assessment from last Saturday was that Miles biggest weakness was a need to prove that he could outcoach Saban and co. I remember Paul Zimmerman ("Dr. Z"), who writes about the NFL for Sports Illustrated, talking about how Weiss bugged him the last year or two at NE because he seemed to need to prove the hype of being an "offensive genius." Said there would be times that called for simple things, and it seemed like Weiss often seemed to feel the need to prove that he could come up with a brilliant solution, rather than just an effective one. Well, that's the feeling I got watching LSU vs. Bama.
In a race between a thoroughbred and a donkey, if you're riding the thoroughbred you just need to let it run. If you're riding the donkey, you probably need to come up with something the change the balance. Sometimes the hardest thing to do when stepping into the situation of leading a team that's already very talented is to appropriately stay out of the way.
My hat is off to Miles for what he's achieved at LSU. There are plenty of cases to prove that anyone can screw up even the most talented team. There's certainly a skill to taking over someone else's talented team and keeping it humming.
What Saban built at LSU has the potential to be maintained at a high level. Miles has shown at least reasonable ability to do that. Teams that are better than the rest have a certain arrogance/confidence in knowing that if they take care of their own business, they'll most likely come out ahead. LSU is in the position to have that confidence right now. The greatest danger to that is usually becoming overly concerned with what the competition is doing. Sure you respect the competition and you do your homework, but you know that the y have to beat you, while you just have to do your thing (much like the understanding that in a championship fight you have to clearly beat the champ to take the belt).
I guess I wish LSU well. The truth is I don't really care that much. Saban is getting Alabama to the point where if Alabama just takes care of their own business, they'll be very, very good. If I were an LSU fan, my greatest concern would be that Miles can screw up what he does well by feeling that he has to prove himself (vis a vis Saban).
When you're a coach or manager, your job is to put the people under you in a position to succeed. Depending on matchups and situation, what that takes might vary greatly. Miles or Saban's job isn't to win the game; it's to put the players in a position to be able to win the game.
In a race between a thoroughbred and a donkey, if you're riding the thoroughbred you just need to let it run. If you're riding the donkey, you probably need to come up with something the change the balance. Sometimes the hardest thing to do when stepping into the situation of leading a team that's already very talented is to appropriately stay out of the way.
My hat is off to Miles for what he's achieved at LSU. There are plenty of cases to prove that anyone can screw up even the most talented team. There's certainly a skill to taking over someone else's talented team and keeping it humming.
What Saban built at LSU has the potential to be maintained at a high level. Miles has shown at least reasonable ability to do that. Teams that are better than the rest have a certain arrogance/confidence in knowing that if they take care of their own business, they'll most likely come out ahead. LSU is in the position to have that confidence right now. The greatest danger to that is usually becoming overly concerned with what the competition is doing. Sure you respect the competition and you do your homework, but you know that the y have to beat you, while you just have to do your thing (much like the understanding that in a championship fight you have to clearly beat the champ to take the belt).
I guess I wish LSU well. The truth is I don't really care that much. Saban is getting Alabama to the point where if Alabama just takes care of their own business, they'll be very, very good. If I were an LSU fan, my greatest concern would be that Miles can screw up what he does well by feeling that he has to prove himself (vis a vis Saban).
When you're a coach or manager, your job is to put the people under you in a position to succeed. Depending on matchups and situation, what that takes might vary greatly. Miles or Saban's job isn't to win the game; it's to put the players in a position to be able to win the game.
