Miles’ Path Crossing With Dubya’s Quite Often

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LSU coach Les Miles has done his fair share of hob-nobbing with the big shots lately.

by Matt Deville
Tiger Rag Senior Editor

And by big shots, Miles has gotten acquainted with the biggest one of them all – the commander in chief.

Twice in a seven-day period Miles has attended a function at which President George W. Bush has been present. Last Monday, Miles accompanied the LSU football team to the White House to take part in a special ceremony on the South Lawn in which the Tigers were recognized by Bush for winning the BCS National Championship.

Monday night, Miles was in attendance at a dinner at Commander’s Palace at which Bush met with Mexican president Felipe Calderon and Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. The three leaders met for the North American Leaders Summitt in the Big Easy.

Miles said there were several other local sports figures present. Chris Paul represented the Hornets while Saints coach Sean Payton joined players Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and Deuce McCalister.

“I had a blast,” Miles said. There were a lot of great people from New Orleans there. It was just a whole lot of fun.”

Miles’ eyes twinkled when re-telling his story to a group of reporters Wednesday afternoon. The LSU coach was asked did President Bush recognize him from his recent trip to the White House.

“Yeah he did,” Miles said. “He turned around to me and said, ‘I hear the grub is pretty good here.’”

Miles also added how overwhelmed he was by the security measures that were taken with these three world leaders. He said once the president had been whisked away, he was left standing on the street. Miles had arranged to be picked up in front of the restaurant. However, no car could get close.

“I thought I was going to have to walk about eight blocks,” Miles said.

Miles then explained how the head of the security detail was a local guy and recognized him. Miles was then instructed to hop into a van, which he quickly realized was filled with secret service agents.

“They all looked at me thinking I was a secret service agent,” Miles laughed. “I think they figured out pretty quickly that I wasn’t when I got on my phone telling my wife, ‘you’re not going to believe this.’”

Even the likes of Miles can get a little star-struck every now and then.