Les Miles should thank his players and coaches for LSU’s halftime lead against Texas A&M last weekend. And especially those fans who booed athletic director Joe Alleva and gave Miles a standing ovation.

It certainly appears that had a profound impact on the university’s decision to retain Miles.

According to the Baton Rouge Business Report, LSU President F. King Alexander, Alleva and several members of LSU’s Board of Supervisors met at halftime at Tiger Stadium and decided to bring back the coach for 2016.

“Many of us decided this was the wrong time and wrong place (to replace Miles),” Alexander told the Business Report.

Most in the media and among the LSU fan base seem to think that the group made the right decision to retain Miles, assuming there is some real action toward changing up the offense.

But Alexander and the leadership at LSU open themselves up to criticism for the perception that they hung Miles out on a limb with leaks to the media, then decided on a whim to retain the coach due to the overwhelming public outcry.

It’s also possible that the school thought it would be able to steal away Jimbo Fisher from Florida State in a misplaced bout of ego. Reports came out at the end of last week that Fisher would not consider leaving Tallahassee for Baton Rouge.

For his part, Alexander disputed that depiction, telling the publication that the decision had “pretty much been made” a few days earlier.

Alexander also confirmed that the monetary circumstances mattered in the decision. LSU would’ve had to pay $15 million plus to buy out Miles and his staff.

“After the type of budget battle we went through this past spring (on the education side) we certainly do not need to be throwing tens of millions of dollars around under certain circumstances,” Alexander said, according to the Business Report.

“We don’t need to go into the next legislative session with a black eye that we’re throwing tens of millions of dollars around on issues that aren’t associated with academic progress.

“Decisions like that are complex and complicated and based on performance history, the direction of the program and oftentimes they don’t have easy answers. You have to weigh everything. A lot of people out there said we had to do something. Half the people said we don’t have to do anything and emotions were all over the place. Somehow you have to not overreact to the emotions and weigh all the factors.”