BATON ROUGE – The Advocate’s headline Thursday morning referenced a “candid” let-go Joe Alleva on his time at LSU – candid, certainly, with a sting.

Sports columnist Scott Rabalais reported he spoke with Alleva the day before and quoted stern thoughts from the former LSU athletic director:

“Talking to Les was like talking to a wall,” Alleva said in a part of the conversation about why Alleva figured the program he believed he set up for certain success failed.

“Think of the players Les Miles squandered and didn’t utilize properly,” Alleva opined. “The key (in) getting to a championship level is utilizing talented players. It’s that simple.”

"From the day I got [to LSU]," Alleva said, "I tried to build toward [a championship winning team]. Improving Tiger Stadium, redoing the locker room, the weight room at football ops, the whole football ops building. The whole piece of the puzzle was to get to this moment to compete for championships.”

Rabalais and Alleva discussed regrets, which he said included hiring basketball coach Will Wade: “I got some bad recommendations on that guy,” Alleva said.

In the article (click here), Alleva reflected on the moment it became obvious Coach Ed Orgeron should be the next head coach after Les Miles was fired.

After eleven years at LSU, Alleva is now living in Florida near his sons and grandchildren, The Advocate reported.

About his time in Baton Rouge: “I loved my experience at LSU. The only negative about my time at LSU is the way it ended. My 11 years there were great. I enjoyed every minute of them.”

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