LSU fires coach Les Miles, offensive coordinator Cam Cameron

He was No. 2 in victories in school history, but loss at Auburn led to shakeup.

The Associated Press
September 26, 2016 at 2:15AM
FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2015, file photo, LSU coach Les Miles watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against Florida in Baton Rouge, La. That Les Miles could be even considered to be on the dreaded hot seat at LSU entering this season tells you all you need to know about job security among college football coaches these days _ especially those in the Southeastern Conference. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) ORG XMIT: NY158
Les Miles won 114 games at LSU, including a 2007 national title, before being fired four games into his 12th season. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Louisiana State fired coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron on Sunday, and promoted defensive line coach Ed Orgeron to interim head coach.

The moves came less than 24 hours after Miles briefly watched his players celebrate what they thought was a last-second winning touchdown pass at Auburn, only to walk off the field with a loss after officials determined on video replay that time had expired before the ball was snapped.

It was the latest of several frantic finishes in which the clock management of a Miles-coached offense had come under scrutiny.

"Coach Miles has done a tremendous job here and he's been a great ambassador for our university, which makes this even more difficult," LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said in a written statement. "However, it's apparent in evaluating the program through the first month of the season that a change has to be made.

"We have an obligation to our student-athletes to put them in the best position to have success on the football field each week."

Miles' firing, reported first by the Advocate of Baton Rouge, came hours after LSU (2-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference), which was ranked 18th last week, dropped out of the Top 25 in the latest AP poll released Sunday afternoon.

Miles, who was in his 12th season, went 114-34 at LSU, the second-most victories in school history behind Charles McClendon's 137 victories from 1962 to 1979.

Cameron, an old friend of Miles' from when they were both assistants at Michigan in the 1980s, joined LSU in 2013.

Miles coached the Tigers to a national title in the 2007 season. The 2011 Tigers also reached the national championship title game but lost to Alabama.

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