Thursday, October 25, 2007
Few restaurateurs have hosted both Nick Saban and Les Miles more than Ruffino’s co-owner and former Tiger footballer Ruffin Rodrigue. The one-time lineman has wined-and-dined with Nick, served the Miles family and recently sat next to Les in-flight. Here he compares the coaches’ palettes and personalities:
“When Nick is in a crowd it’s hard to get his attention. He tends to profile people a little bit. I remember him sizing me up and saying, ‘You want to play for me?’ His wife liked me right away because of our food, so I got the easy way out with Nick. But some of my friends say he rubbed them the wrong way. The thing is, if you’re not talking football, you’re not talking to Nick.
With Les we can go from subject to subject, talk about different sports, celebrities, whatever. We talked about the Michael Vick situation. He’s tuned to everything that’s going on, whereas Nick is only focused on winning. The man is simple. Les is more attentive. You can tell he is being sincere when he talks to you.
Les likes a good steak, a filet. Of course he comes in with his whole family. He’s more of a food connoisseur, whereas Nick has no clue. First time Nick came into the restaurant his wife had to order for him. She got the fettuccini alfredo, the blandest thing on the menu, which is still good, but, he’s a guy that eats Little Debbie cakes for lunch, you know.
If you want to sit down to a dinner with a football coach, Les is your guy. I don’t know what you’d do with Nick. I guess if you want to skip rocks on a pond, drink a beer and talk football, then Nick is your guy.“
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