Rival Views: Best Miles replacement

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney don’t always see eye to eye. In this edition of Rival Views, the two debate which coach would be the best choice to replace Les Miles at LSU.

To me it’s Tom Herman over Jimbo Fisher, and I’m a big fan of Fisher and how he runs a program and how much he’s involved with recruiting. But what Herman has done at Houston following his work with the offense at Ohio State has been nothing short of spectacular.

Want a coach who can beat Nick Saban and Alabama? Herman did it at Ohio State, albeit as an assistant, with his third string quarterback.

Want a coach who can bring an offense alive with or without elite recruits? Herman has done it at Ohio State and, perhaps more impressively, at Houston.

Want a coach who can develop quarterbacks, something that wasn’t done at LSU under Miles? Herman turned J.T. Barrett into a star and made Cardale Jones look like Jamarcus Russell and now he has made Greg Ward, a skinny three-star athlete out of high school, into a Heisman candidate.

Herman is a young, energetic coach who already recruits Texas, especially the Houston area, very well, and he would kill it on the recruiting trail. He’s the right fit even with coaches like Fisher, Kyle Whittingham, Gary Patterson and Larry Fedora all being mentioned. Herman is the hottest name in coaching today and LSU is an elite job. It’s the perfect marriage.

Houston’s Tom Herman and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher are probably the top two targets for the LSU job, but it would be really smart to seriously look closely at TCU coach Gary Patterson.

Patterson has made TCU a relevant national program and won the Big 12 in 2014. He has also overcome significant recruiting hurdles that would not be present if he was hired at LSU.

Imagine an outstanding coach like Patterson with the pick of the litter at LSU -- almost immediately the favorite for every top kid in Louisiana -- and what he could do with them to make the Tigers a national championship contender year in and year out.

TCU has been outstanding under Patterson despite limited availability to top-tier recruits – a sprinkling of top in-state talent but mainly kids who were overlooked by Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Baylor and others. And Patterson is still winning there and winning in a big way.

Patterson is being completely overlooked and undervalued as one of the best coaches in college football. He has run pro-style and spread offenses in the past so he’s familiar with both systems. Patterson is a defensive-minded coach so that wouldn’t be an issue.

Patterson has won at least 10 games in 10 of his 16 seasons at TCU, has five top 10 finishes and is 26-4 since the beginning of 2014.

Herman is obviously the hot young name that every struggling program covets, and it’s a sensible pick because he has done marvelous things at Houston. Fisher has connections to LSU and he’s done great at Florida State.

But if LSU strikes out with those guys or really wants to take another path, Patterson would be an absolute home run hire.