Les Miles will reportedly be out at LSU before their bowl game, despite hefty $15 million buyout
The sources are members of the Tiger Gridiron Club where Miles spoke on Friday.
"He didn't use those words but he made it clear that Saturday is his last game," one Gridiron club member said. Miles regularly speaks to the club at lunch on Fridays before all home games ... "He said, 'We're a second family to him and he's going to miss us, he appreciates his real friends, and then he told us good-bye,'" the source said. "It was very emotional but in control."
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Another source said Miles told the group he "wouldn't be seeing them at the bowl game," he would "always be a Tiger" and "thanks for a great 11 years."
Previously, Joe Schad of ESPN had reported that boosters were prepared to pay the school the amount needed to buyout Miles' contract and that "money is not an issue."
While, buying out a coach's contract is common at big schools that are disappointed in the football team's results, the size of this buyout is a bit shocking.
According to the report, LSU boosters are ready to pay $15 million needed to buy out Miles' contract. That number will jump to $20 million once all of the assistant coaches have their contracts bought out also.
"In Louisiana, we expect national championships, and we're not in it," a source told Schad.
Miles led LSU to the 2007 national championship and was runner-up in 2011. However, since that loss in the BCS title game, LSU has not finished a season ranked higher than 14th in the AP poll and was not ranked at all after the 2014 season.
This year, LSU has lost three games in a row and once again is not ranked after being ranked No. 2 prior to the losing streak.