It doesn't appear that Michigan has formally interviewed LSU's Les Miles yet, but a meeting seems to be imminent. Angelique Chengelis of The Detroit News reports that, according to a source, Miles is expected to meet with Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon about the vacant head coach job on Tuesday. On Saturday, ESPN's Joe Schad reported that Michigan was interested in meeting with Miles at some point this week, so an interview is likely to happen sooner rather than later.
One of the other things Schad reported is that Miles would give LSU 24 hours advance notice of an interview. Chengelis got word from an LSU spokesman on Sunday night that the school's athletic director had not been contacted by Michigan yet, indicating that an interview hasn't been set up. Of course, the LSU athletic director could by lying or Michigan could just be talking directly with Miles and not worrying about contacting LSU, so it's possible this means nothing.
Brandon's secretiveness throughout this coaching search so far suggests that he may just be talking to Miles directly and not bringing LSU into the picture. Brandon has stressed keeping things tight-lipped, which is evident based on what The New Orleans Times-Picayune got from Michigan when they contacted the school for comment on Miles.
"We will not have a comment on any part of the search process until we have a new coach in place," Michigan spokesman Dave Ablauf said. "Our thing is that we will not affect the integrity of our search and we will not make any comments about any candidates or any rumored candidates because it is not fair to those institutions or anyone employed by those institutions.
"If those institutions choose to make comments, that's their choice."
Ablauf was asked where Brandon is and didn't even have an answer for the newspaper, saying that he is "on a need to know basis." That is how secretive Brandon is about this whole process; even people in the athletic department claim to be unaware of Brandon's whereabouts. Considering how easily leaks can happen during a coaching search, he seems to be taking every measure to keep what's going on to himself, which is why it's entirely possible LSU hasn't been contacted about Miles. If contact were to happen, LSU could leak the news, so why bother, right?
All we know about Miles right now is that he is scheduled to be at LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson's Monday morning press conference. Peterson is likely going to declare for the NFL Draft at the press conference, and Miles plans on being there. On Tuesday, Miles is scheduled to speak at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Dallas. That is one of the locations Brandon is rumored to be in right now, so if you connect all of the dots, a Tuesday meeting between him and Miles makes sense.
Although many just assume that Miles would accept an offer to become Michigan's coach if one comes his way after a meeting with Brandon, that is far from a guarantee. From The Times-Picayune:
The person close to the situation at LSU acknowledged that Miles might be willing to talk to his alma mater, but that he was more likely seeing a way not to embarrass Michigan by turning down the job.
"My impression is that he'd like to say 'No,' without saying 'No,'" he said. "He doesn't want to be on the list of people who turned him (Brandon) down."
All signs certainly point to Miles being the favorite right now, but that doesn't mean anything. During Michigan's last coaching search ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit reported that Miles accepted an offer from Michigan, but that turned out to be completely false. Not only did Miles not decide to leave LSU, but he reportedly never even received an offer from the Wolverines. In fact, John U. Bacon, who is very close to the program, reports that Michigan never contacted Miles and didn't return his phone calls. That alone shows how much misinformation is out there during a coaching search.
After being on "Harbaugh Watch" last week, it does look like we are about to begin "Miles Watch." Whether or not that results in Miles becoming Michigan's new head coach remains to be seen, but I personally would expect to hear something by Wednesday. This supposed meeting between Brandon and Miles is reportedly set to take place on Tuesday. If an offer is made and accepted, chances are Miles would be at Wednesday night's Michigan-Ohio State basketball game in Ann Arbor to be introduced. If no offer is made or one is turned down, an announcement about Miles staying at LSU would likely be made. One way or another, my belief is the Les Miles chapter of this coaching search will come to an end in the next couple of days.