Miles not worried about meeting Saban

By Glenn Guilbeau

BATON ROUGE — The first-ever face-to-face showdown between LSU football coach Les Miles and former LSU coach Nick Saban will occur this week at the Southeastern Conference spring meetings in Destin, Fla. All 12 football coaches are scheduled for to meet Tuesday afternoon and most of the day Wednesday.

"I've talked to him on the phone a few times, but I've never met him in person," Miles said in an interview in his office on Thursday.

In light of several incidents that have angered LSU and Alabama fans and caused some friction between the coaches since Saban became Alabama's new coach on Jan. 3, Miles was asked what it will be like should they bump into one another in the lobby or elevator at the Marriott.

"There'll be no bumping into," Miles said. "It won't be anything but us both showing up at the meetings and being cordial and taking care of the business that we'll be in Destin to do."

There was nothing cordial about Miles' comments directed at Alabama when he addressed a few thousand people at the annual Bayou Bash signing day party last February 7 at the Baton Rouge River Center.

"We're looking forward to playing Florida. We're looking forward to playing Auburn," Miles said with his voice rising as the crowd worked itself into a frenzy over the only two teams the Tigers lost to last season. "But we have a new rival in (expletive) Alabama!"

And the crowd went wild as the emotionally charged Miles looked like he was giving a pre-game speech and appeared about to explode.

Several days later after some LSU athletic department officials, who were not at the bash, said he did not say such a thing, Miles apologized for what he said in an e-mail to the Daily Reveille LSU student newspaper that asked him for days for a response.

"I apologize for the inappropriate remark I made at the Bayou Recruiting Bash last Wednesday," Miles said in the e-mail. "This was a private booster function that was closed to the working media, but that's no excuse for my remarks. That remark was out of character for me. I got caught up in the emotion of the day and the excitement of the moment, but I should have used better judgment."

Before the Bayou Bash bombshell, Miles was listing the states his new signees were from and got a roar from the crowd when he said, "and two from Alabama." Recognizing the crowd reaction, he said, "You bet your (expletive ."

Miles says now he was caught up in the excitement of recruiting and the fact that Saban went hard after several players from Louisiana who had already committed to LSU or were close to it. Saban got West Monroe defensive end Luther Davis to de-commit to LSU and sign with Alabama.

"I can tell you that there was some negative recruiting going on out there," Miles said at his Feb. 7 signing day press conference. "I can tell you that in this recruiting class and in this recruiting season, I thought that what appeared to be breaking of rules was much more rampant. But I wouldn't want to say that it appeared from any one school more than any other."

Saban on Thursday was accused of secondary NCAA rules violations concerning illegal contact with prospects between April 15 and May 31 in a story by the Miami Herald and the canesports.com Web site. While at LSU, Saban was reprimanded for similar secondary recruiting violations concerning illegal phone calls.

Last recruiting season, there were also reports that Saban was criticizing Miles and his LSU assistants while recruiting players also interested in LSU.

"I don't have any proof of that happening," Miles said on Thursday and had no other comments on recruiting.

The bad blood between the Alabama-LSU camps started soon after Saban left his job as the Miami Dolphins coach to become coach at Alabama, a school that LSU has traditionally held as one of its rivals though Alabama has never seen it that way with Auburn and Tennessee on the top of that list.

Saban made LSU fans, media and some LSU coaches angry the day he was introduced at Alabama as its new coach on Jan. 4 when he referred to LSU's 41-14 over Notre Dame on Jan. 3 in the Sugar Bowl.

Saban was asked, "If I was a recruit on the fence, what would you do to woo me to stay here at Alabama for the next four years?" by a reporter.

"I think we have a pretty good track record of recruiting," Saban said. "I think recruiting is all about attention and relationships with people and developing trust. Michigan State, I think they were 3-8 (actually 5-6). We ended up 10-2 in the fifth year there with a team that was the first team since 1965 that beat Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan and Penn State in the same year. LSU was 3-8 when we went there. In the second year, we won the SEC championship. In the fourth year (2003) with a team of players we had recruited, we won the national championship. I think the players that you saw play last night for LSU were primarily players that were recruited when I was there. JaMarcus Russell, Early Doucet, Craig Davis, Dwayne Bowe, LaRon Landry. They were all players that were recruited when I was there."

Saban also drew LSU fans' ire when he — thinking he was off the record - shared a funny story he was told to reporters and used the word, "coonass."

LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette, who worked under Saban from 2000-2004 at LSU and has been with Miles for two years, was one of many at LSU that did not like Saban bringing up LSU's Sugar Bowl win. But he does not foresee any argument or altercation between his two former bosses at the spring meetings.

"I think they'll be cordial," said Bonnette, who spoke to Saban a few times when he was coaching Miami. "They'll represent their universities as they should. I don't think anything other than professional behavior by both of them will take place. I don't expect anything to come of it. Having worked for both, they will go to the meetings together and act accordingly."

SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom said there are no plans for any security for the coaches.

"Security has never been an issue," Bloom said.