LSU Board of Supervisors member shows support for Miles

BATON ROUGE – LSU Board of Supervisors member Stanley Jacobs made a statement concerning the fate of LSU football coach Les Miles on Saturday morning.

“There has been much speculation that Les Miles is coaching his last game tonight,” Jacobs said to Gannett Louisiana. “For that to happen, there would have had to have been a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. No recommendation has been made. He is our coach, and I wish him well.”

Jacobs, who is the vice-chairman of the athletic committee on the board and a member since 1997, said he did not want to answer any questions.

Such a recommendation could come from LSU athletic director Joe Alleva at some point following Saturday’s regular season finale between the Tigers (7-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) and Texas A&M (8-3, 4-3 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.

Alleva has made no public comments about Miles’ job status since TigerBait.com, Tiger Rag Magazine and the Baton Rouge Advocate published pieces that said Miles would be coaching for his job after losing to Arkansas, 31-14, on Nov. 14 that followed a 30-16 loss at No. 4 Alabama on Nov. 7 on the heels of a 7-0 start and No. 2 ranking. Two LSU assistant coaches and a member of LSU’s athletic department said after the Arkansas game that Alleva was ready to fire Miles.

LSU board member Ronald Anderson told Gannett on Nov. 20 – the day before the Ole Miss game – that even if Miles won his last two games to finish 9-2 that “it’s still something that needs to be looked at. It’s the way they lost the two games.”

The Tigers then lost 38-17 at Ole Miss the next day after falling behind by 24-0 in the first half. The Tigers, who also fell behind 21-0 to Arkansas in the first half, have lost three games by 14 or more points for the first time since 1966.

Tiger Rag Magazine, Gannett Louisiana and the Times Picayune/NOLA.com all published stories Friday afternoon quoting eyewitnesses at a LSU boosters club meeting that Miles told them he was leaving and would not coach whatever bowl game the Tigers reach. Other reports later said Miles did not mean to intimate Saturday’s game would be his last at LSU.