Outside of the usual start of the football season column I write toward the end of August and the first of September, or some type of nostalgic tome for a certain sports figure, I tend to stay away from writing about sports in this column, leaving that chore to our sports guys.

But events last week in Baton Rouge surrounding Tigers’ coach Les Miles have left me upset and embarrassed.

Quite frankly, my alma mater did a very poor job handling the entire matter, and I’m still upset. Regardless of your feelings about Miles, he deserved better treatment from the school during the whole affair.

The administration at LSU is paying the price for its stupidity in the national media. I even found myself agreeing with ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum (the man folks in Alabama like to hate daily) when he suggested LSU athletic director Joe Alleva be fired for his action in the debacle.

For those who have forgotten the events of last week or were in Outer Mongolia, after a third consecutive loss by LSU, rumors started swirling that Les Miles was on his way out and Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher would replace him. ESPN “analyst” Jon Gruden was also rumored for the job.

The Baton Rouge Advocate teemed with stories that “sources” were predicting Miles, the school’s second winningest coach after Charlie McClendon, would be fired before the Texas A&M game, after the game, by the first of December, by the end of the year. Wealthy boosters, they said, were ready to fork over the $15 million to buy out Miles’ contract.

The rumors and leaks were constant, and repeated not only in the local paper, but on sports websites like ESPN, CBS Sports and Saturday Down South, a website devoted solely to the SEC. Miles, according to the rumors, had the proverbial one foot in the grave and the other on the banana peel as far as his career at LSU was concerned.

Alleva did nothing to dispute or confirm the rumors about Miles’ demise. That was shameful. You don’t leave your school’s most successful coach of the decade hanging and twisting in the wind. Either you support him or you fire him.

Throughout the whole affair last week, Miles and the members of the football team showed more class than anyone in Baton Rouge.

The whole situation ended rather anticlimactic last Saturday with Alleva’s weak comment that Miles was staying. Some have speculated Miles kept his job because Fisher said he wasn’t leaving the Seminoles, and Alleva had no backup plan. I prefer to believe it was the show of crowd support for more than 100,000 fans last Saturday in Tiger Stadium, and the influence from some “extremely” influential people who put the fear of God in Alleva. Now that the controversy is over, Miles and the team can concentrate on its bowl game and Miles can get out and recover the commitments who changed their minds during the falderal. Hopefully, he’ll get a new offensive coordinator to improve the offense and return to the title games.

Or, he could find a new job and leave Alleva hanging in the wind. And I wouldn’t blame him.

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John Surratt writes for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com.