I just put the wraps on an amusing (to me, at least) new Bet-R Sites project – The Quotable Les Miles. As you might have guessed, the site features quotes from LSU head football coach Les Miles.
If you don’t follow LSU football, the concept probably won’t make much sense to you. But if you’re an LSU fan, you’ll probably understand why the world needs a collection of Les Miles quotes. The man says interesting things, and he says them in interesting ways. I’ve noticed this for a long time – in fact the first thing I wrote about Miles after he was hired was about his quotes at the introductory press conference. So a site with nothing but Leslie quotes seemed like a good idea.
My stepfather had a predictable (as a man who takes pride in defending Les’ reputation) but on-target observation when I showed him the site last week – Les Miles talks like a football coach. More specifically, he talks like an old-school football coach. He doesn’t talk like Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Pete Carroll or many guys who have found themselves on the “highest-paid coaches” list.
A certain degree of media savvy seems to be a prerequisite for big-time coaching gigs these days, but Miles … well … lacks it. But as a big-time college football coach, he’s put in front of the media pretty often, and the result is often funny, head-scratching or just plain bewildering. The Quotable Les Miles just wants to make sure all of this is preserved.
I launched the site with 352 quotes going back to his hiring in 2005 and add more as I find them. The quotes are taken from published articles and transcripts of his press briefings posted on LSUSports.net. As a reformed journalist, I do take care to only use quotes that make sense on their own and stay away from things in transcripts that might be typos and the like. I’m looking for Miles’ actual own words in snippets that make sense as a pulled-out quote.
And I should note that drawing attention to the fact that Miles says interesting things in interesting ways isn’t meant as a criticism of his abilities as a football coach. I’ve been critical of him for years, and I do hold the view I repeat often that he seems like “kind of a dumb guy.” But he was saying as many interesting things in interesting ways when he was winning 12 games and a national title as when he was self-destructing against Ole Miss last year. The rest of the world may have a new view of Miles after last year, but I’ve long recognized the entertainment value of what he says.
I’ve kept the site really simple – just click through the big button with Les’ head on it to view new quotes. New quotes and Quote of The Day posts are also made on the @tqles Twitter account and The Quotable Les Miles Facebook Page. Following or Fanning is obviously something you should do.
