On Monday, Les Miles went on the record with LSU beat reporters denying that he has any interest in the Michigan job... without permitting the denial to be captured on video or audio recording devices.
Three days later, Miles publicly addressed UM’s rumored interest... without actually denying any interest on his part.
During a Thursday appearance on SiriusXM’s College Football Playbook show -- seriously, so to speak, get satellite radio for that channel alone -- the LSU head coach was, of course, asked about the situation earlier in the week and the manner in which he handled it. Miles said he addressed it, such as it were, because he didn’t want the speculation to become a distraction for a Tiger team prepping for the Dec. 30 Music City Bowl.
“What happened there was, it became such a constant question, there was not a ... I couldn’t put it behind us,” Miles said according to mlive.com. “Our football team’s preparing to play a significant game against Notre Dame, and I certainly didn’t want a distraction in any way.”
Shortly thereafter, though, Miles seemed to intimate that UM’s search for a new head coach would go on without him, much as it did in January of 2011. And in December of 2007.
“The only thing I can tell you is that I’m so for Michigan,” he said. “They have a process, they’re going to go through it. They’re going to get a great coach.
“I wish them the very best.”
UM’s search for a new head coach is in the middle of its third week. At least for now, a significant focus of that search appears to be on reeling in Jim Harbaugh and bringing him back to Ann Arbor. Should that effort fail -- and most indications are that it will -- there’s a very good chance the university could circle back to the coach in Baton Rouge and make another run at bringing Miles back to his college home. Whether that effort would be as fruitless as the university’s first two attempts remains to be seen, although history suggests it very much would.