Angelique S. Chengelis with the inside story.
Les Miles will not be Michigan's next head coach, LSU's athletic director Skip Bertman confirmed to The News Saturday afternoon.
Miles has agreed to a lucrative, multi-year extension with LSU. Miles told his players today, before this afternoon's Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta against Tennessee, that he is remaining their head coach.
LSU has called a 1:45 news conference today at the Georgia Dome to announce the extension.
Miles, a former Michigan player and assistant coach, was considered the "front-runner," according to Michigan sources, to succeed Lloyd Carr, who retired Nov. 19 after 13 seasons as head coach.
On Wednesday, Michigan athletic director Bill Martin requested and was granted permission by LSU to talk to Miles after the SEC title game. Martin, sources said, never reached out to Miles' agent, George Bass, or Miles. Martin was expected to contact Miles on Sunday.
"The truth is he's going to stay at LSU," Bertman said by telephone. "We have an agreement, but we don't have a written, signed document. But we have an agreement so that Les could talk to his team today, which he did."
Bertman said the contract essentially was ironed out Friday, but they chose not to negotiate over the weekend because of today's SEC title game.
John Wangler, former Michigan quarterback and close friend of Miles, clearly was shocked by the news.
Wangler had been public in his support of Miles, saying he believed his friend would be the next head coach of the Wolverines.
"I'm very disappointed," Wangler said. "But I'll support whoever the next guy is. I love Michigan."
Bertman told The News Wednesday night he was prepared to make Miles a lucrative offer to remain with the Tigers. Miles is finishing his third season at LSU.
"I don't understand why people won't believe me -- the guy has said he didn't want to go to Michigan," Bertman said. "He told the Chancellor, the president, the board members. He said he wanted to stay at LSU. He had permission to talk to Michigan, but he didn't really want to go to Michigan. I know it's a blow to Michigan, but this is a nice place here.
"The guy was never going to Michigan, evidently. He never even spoke to anybody from Michigan. We're very excited. The players are excited."
ESPN reported Saturday morning that Michigan would announce Miles as its head coach next week, but Michigan sources said this morning that LSU had applied significant pressure on Miles to sign a lucrative deal before today's Southeastern Conference title game in Atlanta.
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