The episode regarding Les Miles’ coaching job might have been a distraction to everyone surrounding LSU last season, but this season it’s served to sharpen the program’s focus.

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva was a guest on 104.5/104.9 ESPN-FM with Culotta & The Prince in Baton Rouge on Thursday morning.

While many believed the doubts about Miles’ job security would affect the Tigers on the recruiting trail, LSU still boasted the third-ranked recruiting class for 2016, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

“I really think all the speculation that happened at the end of the season with coach Miles — I think at the end of the day it actually has inspired and motivated the whole program to achieve at higher levels,” Alleva said. “… I think this year we have a chance to be truly exceptional.”

The news certainly got everyone’s surprise, not just in the SEC but around the country as schools with coaching vacancies began to wonder what it might be like to have The Mad Hatter roaming their sidelines.

Alleva later admitted to The Advocate that he “looked at options” after LSU’s three-game losing streak to Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss late in the season, the school’s first such streak during Miles’ 11-year tenure in Baton Rouge.

“I think now everyone realizes that we have tremendous potential, and our goal is to compete at the highest level,” Alleva told Culotta & The Prince. “Sometimes things like that are good to wake everybody.”