Sources: LSU fires Les Miles after 2-2 start, names Ed Orgeron interim coach

— -- LSU has fired Les Miles as football coach and has named Ed Orgeron the interim coach, sources told ESPN's Mark Schlabach.

The school also parted ways with offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.

The news was first reported by the Baton Rouge Advocate and confirmed by ESPN.

So ends the 12-year reign of one of the quirkiest and most popular coaches in SEC history -- one who was as famous for oddball behavior like eating grass as he was for winning games at an impressive clip.

Miles expected to contend for a national championship with a veteran-laden team this season, but a 2-2 start was enough to bring about the end.

The coaching change is a move that to some degree was 10 months in the making.

Miles survived a November coup attempt last year, when consecutive humiliating losses to Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss nearly led to his dismissal. Many Tigers fans arrived at the emotional season-ending contest against  Texas A&M expecting to see "The Mad Hatter" coach his final game in LSU purple-and-gold, only to learn after the Tigers' 19-7 victory that LSU's administration had decided to keep Miles in charge.

Then circumstances quickly seemed to turn in Miles' favor.

The Tigers wrapped up the 2015 season with a resounding bowl win over Texas Tech, then lost just one underclassman -- far fewer than the norm in recent years -- to the NFL draft, allowing LSU to return a whopping 18 starters for the 2016 season. Miles also made a well-received hire, nabbing defensive coordinator Dave Aranda away from Wisconsin, and signed ESPN's No. 3 recruiting class in February, with LSU's 19 ESPN 300 signees matching the best total for any program since ESPN began compiling recruiting rankings a decade ago.

However, the fire under Miles' seat reignited as soon as the 2016 season started, with an impotent offensive performance against Wisconsin producing a 16-14 upset, the Tigers' first season-opening defeat in Miles' 12 seasons in Baton Rouge. The offense had looked a bit better since Danny Etling supplanted Brandon Harris at quarterback early in Week 2, but fell flat again versus Auburn. The Tigers scored just one touchdown on the Plains, and Etling's last-second touchdown pass to D.J. Chark was waved off once replay officials determined LSU did not start the play in time.

Blame Miles' issues on insufficient quarterback recruiting and development or on a general lack of offensive innovation; the bottom line was simply that Miles won less frequently in recent years than he did in the early portion of his Tigers tenure.

Miles posted a 75-18 record (41-15 in SEC play) in his first seven seasons at LSU -- a stretch that included three SEC West titles, two SEC titles, a BCS championship and another title game appearance.

It was that second BCS championship game appearance, when then-undefeated LSU suffered a 21-0 loss against Alabama in a rematch from earlier in the season, that many Tigers fans circle as the turning point in Miles' tenure. Alabama won 21-0, but the score hardly describes the level of humiliation that accompanied the Tigers' loss. LSU finished the game with 92 yards of total offense -- far and away the worst offensive performance in BCS title game history.

Since the Tigers fell face-first on that enormous stage, LSU has lost more than three games in each full season along with zero division or conference titles. The Tigers' winning percentage in that five-year stretch -- 70.9 percent overall and 61.8 percent in conference play -- was well short of the consistency Miles displayed in his first seven seasons (80.6 percent overall, 73.2 percent SEC).

The biggest problem in recent years came in division play, though, especially when it came time to face Alabama. The Tigers went 2-7 against Ole Miss, Arkansas and Alabama over the previous three seasons and haven't beaten Alabama since the 2011 regular season, a stretch of five straight defeats against the Tide.

Those losses to Nick Saban's SEC powerhouse sometimes came in heartbreaking fashion -- on a last-minute AJ McCarron touchdown pass to T.J. Yeldon in 2012 or a blown late lead in an overtime loss in 2014 -- but the result was always the same. Once again, the Tigers had suffered a loss to their most-hated rival and occupied second-tier status in college football's toughest division.

That was supposed to change this season with Heisman Trophy contender Leonard Fournette leading a roster loaded with future NFL players like cornerback Tre'Davious White, safety Jamal Adams, linebacker Kendell Beckwith, edge rushers Lewis Neal and Arden Key and receivers Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural. However, the Tigers dropped the opener against Wisconsin and sputtered along in September before the offense bottomed out again in Auburn on Saturday.

That was apparently enough for athletic director Joe Alleva and LSU's power brokers to pull the trigger on this long-debated move. They dispatched a coach whose 114-34 record at LSU and 77.0 winning percentage are best among modern-day LSU coaches and match up with the most successful coaches in SEC history.

Miles is 16th all time with 114 wins as an SEC coach, one shy of Johnny Majors (Tennessee) and Frank Thomas (Alabama). His overall winning percentage ranks seventh among SEC coaches who spent at least five years in the conference, and his 64 career SEC wins are tied for 10th all time with Tommy Tuberville (Ole Miss/Auburn).