The first two installments of Sports Illustrated‘s expose’ have painted in a very unflattering light the Oklahoma State football program in general and Les Miles specifically.
Miles, the Cowboys’ head coach from 2001-04 -- the period in which a sizable chunk of the SI allegations were alleged to have occurred -- used his current platform as LSU’s coach to address the accusations leveled in the five-part piece. On the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday, and after touching on the 12th anniversary of 9/11 as well as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Miles vehemently defended his time in Stillwater,
From Jim Kleinpeter of the New Orleans Times-Picayune:“I revered my time in Stillwater. The idea that someone would characterize the program that was run there as anything but right and correct... did we work hard? You betcha. Did we make tough decisions about starting lineups? You betcha. But every guy was encouraged to get his degree, stay the course and fight.
“I can tell you that people that were commenting on the state of the program weren’t there long enough to figure it out. They heard me tell them attend class, do the right things and heard me routinely. I’m going to withhold further comment. I can tell you that staff, family and friends, anybody that sat in our meeting rooms, knew that this thing was done right. I want to withhold further comment to get my team ready to play against a quality Kent State. That’s my push.”Miles left the Cowboys following the 2004 season to take the same job at LSU. In SI’s most recent article, Terry Henley, an academic adviser for football since 2000, was quoted as saying that, in regards to Miles, “no, he didn’t promote academics.”