Buddy system fail

 So Les Miles is out as the football coach at Kansas, three days after he was placed on administrative leave, several more days after a waterfall of accusations began to flow that ol' Lester was a horndog at LSU who loved him some college girls.

In other words, he's accused of  "inappropriate behavior toward female students," as ESPN more judiciously phrased it.

That's not what it dinged the Blob's antenna, however.

Buried in the story, see, was this nugget: That Kansas AD Jeff Long did not use a search firm when he hired Miles, on account of they were buddies from their time together at Michigan 30 years ago.

Search firms get a bad rap from fans of austerity sometimes, particularly when their services are engaged by government entities. Taxpayers want to know why excessive amounts of their dough are being squandered on what seems to be a frivolity. Why can't the mayor/city council/whoever conduct a search themselves?

I mean, they've got Google down there at city hall, right?

Well. Consider this Exhibit A for why search firms are often worth the expense.

It's hard to imagine, had Long enlisted one, that it wouldn't have uncovered at least some of Miles' alleged disturbing behavior at LSU. Enough, at least, to raise a red flag or two. Rumor and whispers grow like ditch lilies on every college campus, after all. How could any substantive vetting not picked up on some of that?

Instead, Long apparently decided that was an unnecessary expense, because Miles was available and he'd won a national title at LSU -- and, besides, Long knew that old boy. Hell, he'd known him for three decades. What further vetting did a guy need?

Now, it's possible the Blob is being unfair here. Perhaps none of the above was part of Long's process at all. But it sure looks like it was, and appearances matter in the Age of the Interwhosis, when everything eventually appears somewhere.

Which might be why, upon announcing Miles was being let go, that Long said Kansas would be using a search firm to find its next coach.

Live and learn.