Jim Varney

Special for USA TODAY Sports

It’s Thursday, the day after signing day, and LSU had a big one. Not, it turned out, as big as Alabama’s, and Alabama is the elephant in the room with LSU. So LSU coach Les Miles wasn’t taking a day off. Instead, he sat in the Tigers’ control room as assistant coaches filed in and out, watching tape of high school juniors. One of the assistants, offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, joked that reports earlier that day he would be leaving LSU had been greatly exaggerated. One side of the large office is a large white board, and on it scores of color-coded names were ranked and slotted for every position. The 2017 recruiting effort had begun in earnest.

Miles eventually broke away from the meeting and sat down to discuss his and the Tigers’ tumultuous 2015 season – and Alabama, which was once again crowned national champion. The season appeared to break apart after LSU, having just appeared in the first playoff ranking as the No. 2 team in the land, got routed in Tuscaloosa and went on a three-game losing streak, the first such streak in Miles’ tenure in Baton Rouge.

It appeared that losing streak and LSU’s continuing inability to stem the Tide might cost Miles his job. But the Tigers rallied and beat Texas A&M at home to finish the regular season. After the game, LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said, “Les Miles is our football coach. OK?” as if that would settle the matter. It hasn’t, of course, and with a bowl win and another top 5 recruiting class big things are expected – demanded – in 2016.

THE USA TODAY NETWORK sat down with Miles this week to discuss his status and that of the Tigers’ program.

Q: You ever notice how this euphoria about Alabama doesn’t extend beyond the Alabama state line? Nobody else is feeling it?

Miles (laughs): I, eh, yeah. I think it’s an, there’s an enjoyment when you win a championship that’s accessible and I think that’s what you’re seeing.

Q: Atlanta (SEC Championship) or the national championship?

Miles: I’m talking about both. I certainly understand that at the time. And here’s the thing: we expect, extend that opportunity as we go forward. So it doesn’t gnaw at me as much as it probably can, you know? I recognize two very specific, very key times, where things beyond our control kind of happened. And what you do is you understand that and you go to work, you put your head down and you fight like hell, and you look forward to the next opportunity. And we do here. So, a quality opponent that deserves our best efforts and I think we kind of get that.

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Q: One of the things that kind of struck me was that idea about ‘the next opportunity’ always seemed to be pretty well instilled in you guys. There was always a lot of enthusiasm to LSU football. But it seemed like last year there was an emotional letdown that isn’t common with your teams.

Miles: We – physically, we lost four guys right before that game (Alabama), guys that were very significant to our team. And we were trying to get ‘em back, and get ‘em back, and get ‘em back and when we did I think we were a much better football team. We lost, well, I’m not going to describe the specifics there, but I think there’s – when it all happens just before a big game. You know, we line up against Florida and really have a great game against Florida and play well and then we lose a number of guys who never take the field again beyond that, and then we injure two guys who were a half-step slower than they would have been and could have been. And so, you know, I guess those things that are beyond our control, we played awfully well considering. But we return those guys to play and we’ll be ready for another one and we’ll look forward to playing that Alabama team.

“Look, we’re 8-0 – well, I take that back, really 7-0 considering the lightning game against McNeese – ok, and we line up to play for the conference lead and we’re down four players, guys that we legitimately made decisions to play or not to play in the pregame. So that happens, and it’s not specific to any one team, an issue there and another team’s not, but when it happens right after you beat Florida and you’re preparing to play a rival? We had an open date and we couldn’t get anybody back in the open date. I mean, it’s just the way it was.”

Q: Well, those were all factors going into that game. But after that game – I don’t mean to say you were hanging your heads, but it just seemed like the psychology of the team wasn’t as sharp as it usually is. I don’t know if that’s because you were pointing to that game so much that it took a little longer to come back…

Miles: Well, being undefeated, and being in a position to – what we pride ourselves on is going by those situations. In other words, a guy gets injured, the next guy steps into the fray and that’s how we approach it. And we found out it wasn’t true, that that’s not necessarily the case. That’s a great approach, but we have to get our backups more prepared to play in games like that.”

Miles then turned to LSU’s 2015 tailspin and the very public drama that accompanied it concerning his future status with the program.

In the unprecedented and rather awkward situation that was the LSU locker room after the Texas A&M game, when the Tigers carried Miles off the field toward what most of the country thought would be a firing squad, Miles made some rather cryptic comments. On the one hand, he acknowledged changes had to be made to LSU’s maddeningly one-dimensional attack on offense but, on the other, he said when the engine’s motor is obviously a fine, humming machine you don’t tinker with it too much.

That was an obvious reference to running back Leonard Fournette, who will enter his junior year at LSU this fall on the Heisman short list. Miles was asked about the degree to which he thinks change at LSU is necessary and what those changes might entail.

Miles: There’s so much quality culture that’s being implied and taught back here that – we always change, we always review, and we do it on an annual basis but there’s some pieces that you just don’t give up. One of the things is the resiliency. You know, when you finish second and you understand that sometimes it just happens: ‘we had a flat tire in November, guys, it’s just what happened.’

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Q: Well, everyone knew you meant No. 7 (Fournette), but have you put percentages to it? How much it needs to change? I mean, you know as well as anyone you have got to be more efficient passing the ball.

Miles: Without question. And what we’re going to do is were going to take the guys that we have – we have a really great receiving corps, in my opinion, especially with the young guys coming in – that I think we’ll take the field and play better there. I think we’re going to apply a little more elbow grease in the passing game, we’re going to throw it more in practice and apply a greater amount of time to it, especially in the spring but in the preseason as well. And we expect it to be fruitful. I don’t know how much more that we can do.

Q: When you went out on the field for the A&M game, did you think it was your last game, did you think it was over?

Miles: No. And it would not have been, no matter what. So. I felt like I was going to enjoy my night; that I was going to enjoy calling that game. I certainly enjoyed that outcome. I enjoyed that game – I enjoyed the energy and that crowd, I enjoyed being there.

Q: You said after the game that you didn’t think there’d been any miscommunication, that you didn’t think anyone here had misled you and that you thought your relationship here with all these guys was good. But it seemed obvious that you guys hadn’t been talking for a while there.

Miles: That’s not true.

Q: No?

Miles: Yeah; he would come in here, the AD would come in here on a pretty regular basis in that period of time and communicate comfortably with me.

Q: And have you talked much since?

Miles: Absolutely. You don’t hire a guy like Dave Aranda (LSU’s new defensive coordinator, whom Miles pried loose from Wisconsin) without real support from your athletic department.

Q: Why? I would think they’d be thrilled with you hiring a guy like that.

Miles: Well, my point is when you talk to somebody about that you have to make sure that the salaries all fit and that if they see things differently than you see them that’s a problem. They didn’t. We were all on the same page.

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Q: When all that was going on last year, who do you turn to? Is it the family and the ghost of Bo (Schembechler, the late, legendary Michigan coach who was Miles’ mentor and idol)? Do you call colleagues?

Miles: No, no, no, – you don’t turn to anybody. You turn to the back of this building and you go to coaching your butt off. I recognize that the success we’ve had for 11 years has been done in the exact same way for 11 years and sometimes a year or a period of games – an injury gets ‘ya, or weather gets ‘ya, or something will get ‘ya. Because if it’s not that, then we win. And we win a lot here. I’m not going to change that just because there’s a lot of people in the street screaming at you, ok? I don’t care. The people I have always worked for were the families of the assistant coaches that I’ve hired, those men that I work next to; the young men that I’ve recruited to this school and that I’ve been consistent to and that when I told them I would be here for their time that I would; certainly my own family – that fivesome beside myself – and for the people who walk inside that stadium. I’m very loyal to the state of Louisiana, and I’m going to do the best I can until which time I decide to step away or somebody suggests that. And I’m good with that.

I have goals. I think there’s more to do here. I think there’s a national championship in this program that we can go win. I’d like to be a conference champion, and an SEC Western Division champion and there’s work to do. I don’t think there’s a time that I will have ever lost sight of that here. When you lose two, three, four guys just before you play your archrival and you finish second in that game you go, ‘you know what? I get that.’ And then you get them back, you finally get them back, and you win that last game then you’re healthy for the bowl game and you play *really* good, and you go off recruiting and you’re prepared to have a great recruiting class. There’s time where the tire flattens, you know, you lose air, there’s times where that happens. And you just have to patch, or get a new tire, and pump that sucker up and let’s go! And that’s what we’ve done.

I don’t know how to do it any other way. Certainly a timely call to Bo would work, but I don’t think I could get through right now. I think there’s a lot of other people standing in that line who would get the opportunity to talk to him first. In the absence of that, I think a quality call to Bill McCartney (the former Colorado coach who hired Miles as an assistant), which I haven’t made, but I think it’s the same. You do the thing that you do – I kind of believe in our direction. I have a spiritual direction: I’m good. The things that we do have produced a lot of positive results for a very long time and we will continue to have very positive results over a very long time. Because we do it right. We’re not going to cheat. We’re going to do the things that represent this school the best. That’s just the way it’s going to be.”

Q: So when you think about what happened here in November, and your own personal situation here, will we see a different Les Miles in any way this fall?

Miles: No. It’s not happening. It’s going to be the same guy. Hopefully the team will be a lot better (laughter). It’s going to be interesting to see this spring. I think (quarterback) Brandon Harris will play his best football. I think he’s – you know, he started one game as a freshman, he started a season as a sophomore, now he’s a junior, OK?

“So I say I think we’ll be better? I can’t imagine that we won’t. I think, man, we’re going to be in great shape. I don’t think there’s any question that we’ll play better on offense and defense. Or, for that matter, that we won’t throw the football better. I’m the same guy; that’s never going to change. I think we’ll be more productive. I think we’re going to be a team that’s hard to reckon with. And that’s just the way I see it.”

Q: Do you feel any apprehension approaching this season that you haven’t felt in the past? Do you feel like the ice is thinner under your feet? Do you feel like, man, if I lose to ‘Bama and Ole Miss again – do you feel good or that you’re on a year-to-year thing?

Miles: Yeah, I promise you, I’ve never felt anything like that. Ever. OK? Somebody else’s got to think that way – it will not be anything that motivates me. You can take all that (expletive) and throw it in your backyard and maybe it will help you grow grass. But that’s not how I think. What I do is I deal with a team. I deal with how to prepare a team. I deal with the preparation of a game plan, and that’s what I want to deal with. All of that – that perimeter stuff – the perimeter will never win or lose you a game, OK? The perimeter can be … as long as it stays outside this building we’ve done our job. As soon as the perimeter starts making calls inside this building, now, now it’s time for a change.”

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Q: I see you’ve got another top 5 recruiting class coming in here so I guess none of this bothered the kids much, because you and the LSU brand still seem pretty strong with the kids or so many wouldn’t have gotten that good a class, right? What were they saying to you now about how they see LSU and how they see Les Miles?

Miles: I think they see and they recognized that it’s the Les Miles that walked into their living room and it’s a quality LSU brand and that’s never going to change. From my way of thinking, it was the style of recruiting that we are used to doing.

Q: What were the kids telling you on the trail? Did you hear the same thing that you did, say, three or four years ago?

Miles: To be very honest with you. If you’re a guy who sees an opportunity to play in Louisiana, and have a credential of choice, if you want to play for a championship, then certainly it’s on the Western division side and we like our chances. We don’t like finishing second as long as we have, but I think we’re looking forward to making that adjustment and playing for the championship. That’s what motivates this group; that’s what motivates this building. That’s what’s behind us and that’s what we do. And I think the people who are attracted here want in on that.

Q: Do you think what’s been built here in the last 15 years or so works against you, that the expectations are too high? That people don’t take into account that Ole Miss has gotten a lot better, that Arkansas looks like they might be coming back? That you’re in probably – well, not probably – you’re in the best division in college football?

Miles: The expectations here are high and we don’t mind that. We enjoy those expectations, we want to play to those expectations and exceed them. That’s just who we are. We’re a group of young men here who want championships.

Q: So I guess, to return to where we started, that the way you get to the championship you have to beat that one team, it seems, and …

Miles: No question.

Q: And do you ever feel like maybe you, and Freeze and Bielema, and Malzahn and Mullen, and Sumlin will get together on a conference call and figure out way because everyone is sick of one team winning all the time?

Miles: Well, I think the conference call would be an issue and a problem (laughter). I think it’s a great division to play football in. I think there’s been more competition in the Western division than some like but, again, sometimes you run into a specific set of circumstances that give you that flat tire and then other times you don’t. You know, we’ll get back to the Western league championship and playing for the title.