Too much coffee as LSU’s Les Miles has health scare
BATON ROUGE – The local Community Coffee company may be able to name a new extra caffeine brand after LSU football coach Les Miles — “Mad Hatter Brew” — after his Java misadventure on Monday.
“Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated,” Miles said Monday night, altering a famous quote from author Mark Twain. “I can tell you that I did in fact have too much coffee to drink today, and I certainly did not feel real great about that.”
After Miles told head trainer Jack Marucci Monday morning that he had a headache and was feeling a bit nauseated, Marucci told him to get checked out. Miles drove to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, according to LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette, and was fine. He missed his 12:30 p.m. press conference to discuss the 2015 season opener against McNeese State in Tiger Stadium, but he was back at work at 2:15 p.m. and went through a 4 p.m. practice.
“I had a very quality medical staff that decided I should go get some examination and testing,” Miles said. “They did a great job and took care of me, and I appreciate it very much. And now I just want everybody to know that everything’s fine, and we’re ready to roll.”
But with less coffee for Les.
“Too much,” Miles said when asked how much coffee he drank. “Whatever it was, it was absolutely too much. And it didn’t seem like too much. It just kind of went down easy. Honestly, I enjoy my health and wanted to make sure that I moderate anything that I indulge in. Coffee certainly is one.”
But in recent months, Miles had stayed away from his guilty pleasure.
“To be honest with you, and this is the reason (for the sickness). I’ve had six months where I didn’t even have a cup of coffee,” he said. “And I just slowly but surely kind of worked it back into my diet. And I remember I really didn’t get along with coffee.”
Miles was vague about his symptoms.
“Ah, who knows? It was just a kind of an awkward feeling,” he said. “Anyways, you know what? Here’s what happens. You have those a lot of times. Except I just happened to have it right in front of my trainer. Right. OK. You say, ‘Boy, I’m not feeling good.’ And then suddenly he does his job. Right. He gets me in front of a doctor. Bad news is if I would’ve just kept quiet and gone through the day and wouldn’t have missed a thing.”
Miles met with reporters at about 7 p.m. and was in a good mood. He met with the team before practice to go over the opponent’s scouting report.
“They expected me to walk in the room. I walked in the room,” Miles said. “Just the way it was. Practice was at the same time. Scouting report. So it was seamless to them.”
But players were taken aback when the news first hit. Most of them were in class so they got the reports from media on social media.
“It was kind of scary when we first heard about it,” defensive tackle Christian LaCouture said before practice. “But they told us it was a precaution. All they told us was he will be back at practice.”
DEPTH CHART NOTES: Miles repeated that sophomore Brandon Harris will start at quarterback in the season opener against McNeese State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Tiger Stadium. “Absolutely, you betcha,” he said. “Unless something at the back end of this week for some reason takes place. But right now that seems like a foregone conclusion.”
In a surprise, junior returning starter Ethan Pocic was listed as the No. 1 center in the depth chart released by LSU on Monday. Pocic had been reportedly practicing as the first-team left guard with redshirt freshman William Clapp as the first-team center. Clapp is listed as the No. 1 left guard with true freshman Maea Teuhema at No. 2. Sophomore Andy Dodd is the second-team center.
A pair of highly ranked signees were listed as second team cornerbacks — Donte Jackson and Kevin Toliver II.