Fairly awesome article on Les Miles by Jeff Passan

http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201201/les-miles-everywhere-nomadic-profession-lsus-coach-builds-home-where-he-stands

This really should be in BASW this year. It's marvelous. I wonder, and can somebody tell me without sarcasm, how Passan found out ALL THIS INFO about Les Miles. Multiple interviews? One LONG interview? I think it was probably various interviews sprinkled throughout the season. Lots of audio transcription from this interviews. The end result was a fabulous piece.

 

Jesus. That is one HELL of a story.

 

How many interviews do you think Passan had to do to get all of that information?

 

Hard to tell. Sometimes, you don't need 100 interviews to get a story like that. You just need to ask good questions and be a good listener.

 

Agreed - really well done article. Normally I am not a big fan of the technique where writer drops a nugget at beginning that requires you to get to end to learn the rest of story but in this case it really worked.

Thank goodness for SJ or I would miss most of these stories.

 

I was underwhelmed. It's another effort to put something there that isn't in terms of personality, or to find some larger-than-coaching significance out of a life that's all about coaching. It's the same old story that can be told at a hundred schools or about a thousand different athletes in other sports.

The girls whose mother died have my sympathy and so does Les, but his relationship with his sister did not seem especially tortured or unusual for two people in their mid-50s. They lived close to each other, they ate dinner together once in a while, they knew each other's kids -- that seems about normal.

Story was overwrought IMO.

 

Hounds released in ... three ... two ...

 

The one thing that story did not seem to explain was if Les suggested that his sister move to Louisiana or she just showed up.

 

Incredible piece. I've always loved reading in-depth stories on what make great coaches, players and teams tick. This is certainly one of them.