I went to all the links and read the comments. Even joined a few boards along the way.
I think Miles is a very good coach. Everyone loves to hate a winner when you’re the loser on the other end of the scoreboard. And more often than not that has been the case for the hate. It means we’re sucessful and I’m enjoying all the comments about our coach.
Let ‘em talk and please Les, keep us all smiling.

Actually, refusing to punt is very rational. It’s been a hobbyhorse of statistical football analysts for quite sometime: teams shouldn’t punt as often as they do. While I highly doubt Miles has read any Pete Palmer, he does seem to understand the general theory: punting from your own 40 on 4th and short is not really a great decision, it’s just the one coaches have always made. It’s the stratgey of choice because coaches are, as a lot, fairly risk adverse. But going for it may cost you some points, but it will likely pick you up more points as well. Punting from midfield is probably only wirth about 20-30 yards of field position. Big whoop.

It’s also odd to criticze a guy for going for it on fourth a lot when he was more often than not successful. People are so risk adverse that even when the riskier strategy WORKS, it is roundly criticized.

...everyone got their panties in such a bunch over Miles’ comments about Alabama. First off, he was right (as Saban himself pointed out today at media days), and when you’ve never personally lost to a team it’s not only your right, but also your patriotic duty, to talk a little good natured shit about them. I think the most ludicrous part of it was the accusations that Miles doesn’t have any class because of it. Bryant joked about Auburn on numerous occasions, and we all think of him as the epitome of class in football (that’s not to say he wasn’t, because he did a lot of classy things you don’t see anymore like visit the other teams locker room to congratulate them on their victory when he lost). I know I’ve said some negative things about Miles and I still think the jury is out on whether or not he can do better than a two loss season, but so long as he’s got that kind of record and is competing for the league and the MNC year in and year out, you can’t argue too much over whether or not he’s doing a good job at LSU.

. . . I wasn’t really questioning Les Miles’s strategy, any more than I was really questioning Houston Nutt’s sanity or Tommy Tuberville’s ethics. (O.K., I was really questioning Tommy Tuberville’s ethics, but, then again, I hate Auburn.)

Coach Miles--of whom I have been a critic, but to whom I gave public credit for his coaching acumen after last year’s national championship season—did go for it on fourth down a lot last year, which was the source of my joke. That doesn’t make his decisionmaking wrong (although I believe his postgame comments following the Auburn win made it clear that he didn’t know how many seconds were left on the clock, so going for the touchdown rather than the field goal was a tactical error that worked out rather than a good call), but it does make it subject to good-natured ribbing.

I don’t think you took it the wrong way or anything, Richard, but I wanted to make it clear to any of your readers who didn’t follow the link what I was, and was not, saying. For what it’s worth, I have (through a link to Brian Cook’s “Sign on the Line That is Dotted” posting following L.S.U.’s win over Florida, which unquestionably was the result of bold yet sound decisionmaking by Coach Miles) cited Coach Miles as an example of what I hope we Georgia fans will see from Mark Richt this year, when the Bulldogs’ placekicking is suspect but the Red and Black’s offense ought to be sound; namely, a greater willingness to take calculated risks and go for it on fourth down.

Les Miles is a fine coach. Like all coaches in the Southeastern Conference, though, his attributes are exaggerated by the level of scrutiny he receives. His reputation is no more or less an undeserved caricature than Urban Meyer’s or Nick Saban’s or Phillip Fulmer’s. This is the time of year to bring the funny, because, when the football starts in five weeks, the serious business begins as my team begins its quest for a successful season against a daunting slate littered with outstanding coaches who have won championships at the Division I-A and Division I-AA level, including Chris Hatcher, Paul Johnson, Steve Spurrier, Phillip Fulmer, Urban Meyer, Dennis Erickson, Nick Saban, and, yes, Les Miles.

On a more personal and positive note, Richard, I don’t know that I’ve formally welcomed you to the neighborhood since you made the move to SB Nation, but you’re doing fine work and I’m proud and pleased to have you as a colleague. I’m looking forward to good-natured partisan exchanges between us prior to Georgia’s and L.S.U.’s gridiron clashes in Baton Rouge and in Atlanta this fall.