Les Miles says he’s not going into broadcasting after all
Les Miles seems like a perfect fit for television, but unfortunately it’s not happening at this time.
After his midseason firing by LSU in 2016, and not getting a new head coaching job for this year, it was a foregone conclusion to many that Les Miles would do television work during the coming college football season. He worked as a guest analyst on ESPNU during National Signing Day, and a full-time job somewhere had to be coming.
As recently as July 19, Miles himself said he would be working for more than one network this fall. But according to Awful Announcing, citing the Montgomery Advertiser, Miles suggested he won’t be on our televisions during any break from coaching.
"Miles said he went for a tryout to be an analyst for FOX Sports, but didn’t want to be conformed.“It’s a struggle when you haven’t had a censor button on the sidelines,” Miles said. “You quickly find out I gave it the old college try, but it’s not going to happen."
Miles may have said no to FOX, or FOX may have said no to him. It’s also not clear if the network auditioned him for a studio role, or a role in the booth for games. But either way his apparent issue with being censored, for language or more likely rambling thoughts, is a serious barrier to working on television. If it happened recently, Miles also had what seems like a fairly late audition.
Miles has consistently conveyed his preference for coaching, with his daughter trying to get him to consider being a broadcaster as she embarks on her own media career. Miles was immediately and obviously mentioned as a candidate to replace Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss, along with a report that he has interest in the job. But that potential hiring will have to wait until after the upcoming season.
Related Story: 5 reasons Les Miles should take the Ole Miss job
Something could change, but time is running short for Miles to work as a college football analyst this season. We’ll probably have to wait until he’s back on a sideline (in 2018?) to hear his voice again.