I told you this would be a DEATH MARCH! First Ferentz is hired, then Miles, then not Miles, then MAYBE MILES? Good lord! We continue:
The Regional Finals of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (current bracket HERE – background here). Here’s a printable version.
Les Miles (LSU) vs. Jon Gruden (Tampa Bay Bucs)
Miles smoked Navy coach Paul Johnson in the second round by taking 92% of the vote; Gruden easily handled Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English taking 67%.
Profiles:
Jon Gruden is just one of those guys that’s going to come up in the conversation [bio from buccaneers.com]. He of course gets instant cred with the Super Bowl ring. Unlike many NFL coaches, his Pete Carroll-esque charm and enthusiasm might make him a decent fit for the college game. He grew up in Ohio and earned three letters at Dayton where he played quarterback, so living in Ann Arbor wouldn’t present a major culture shock. He then went on to Tennessee and Pacific before heading to the NFL. It didn’t take him long to get a head coaching gig and he’s got 9 years under his belt, 5 with Tampa Bay.
Don’t know if Bill Martin will bother to call or if Chucky will listen. The Michigan job came up in a recent press conference but Gruden just laughed (but he didn’t deny anything, haha). Vegas thinks it’s a possibility as he came off at 10 to 1 to get the gig. We’ll see.
What can I tell you about Les Miles [bio] that you don’t already know? Michigan player, Michigan coach, he’s had success at Oklahoma State and he’s done pretty well at LSU. The pros? Passionate about this school and its history. He loves this place and that’s got to worth something. He seems like a great leader and has done a nice job at LSU. Every indication is that he’ll take the job and Martin may not have to shell out NFL money to get him here. It’s exciting to think about this guy coming here.
The downside? Maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Those fourth down plays are borderline crazy. It’s fun to watch when it is LSU playing- not sure it’d be such a ball if all that stuff happened in the Big House. Also it looks like he and Coach Carr aren’t BFF, stemming perhaps from attitude differences when they were young assistants under Bo, and some recruiting clashes in Louisiana.
Face it, you’ve already made your mind up about Miles. You either want him here or you don’t. Most of you want him here.
Gruden advances fairly easily as much of the vote came after it was announced that Miles is staying at LSU. You started to hate old Les. Here’s the current match-up:
2 Comments
Sebastokrator
So, the Les Miles fiasco yesterday is really affecting voting.
joe maimone
i went to dayton with jon gruden. anyone who knew jon at that time knew that the michigan job was always his dream job. this fact is even stated in the 1983-1984 dayton football media guide under jon’s bio. granted that was 20+ years ago, i still think this job is extremely attractive to him despite what he says. being able to achieve a lifetime goal in life has to count for something.