Kansas finalizing deal to hire Les Miles

Submitted by AnthonyThomas on November 16th, 2018 at 4:57 PM

I suspect this will fail miserably, but at least it will be interesting. 

https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/11/8/18076190/les-miles-kansas-head-coach

Blarvey

November 16th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^

Michigan was 2-3 in BCS games and PSU was 1-1. Kansas was 1-0. 

It is kind of meaningless in that it just a brief slice of college football time. For example, who are some of the other teams to win one BCS game? Tennessee (the first BCS title game) UCF, Oregon State, Virginia Tech, and...Clemson.

befuggled

November 16th, 2018 at 8:52 PM ^

It's sort of half correct. Penn State vacated their Orange Bowl win, so in that sense Kansas has more BCS bowl game wins than Penn State.

If you're talking about New Year's Day bowl games, though, Kansas has just the one (they're 6-6 all-time in bowl games). Penn State won more of them in the eighties than Kansas has all time.

reshp1

November 16th, 2018 at 6:30 PM ^

Why not? He wants to coach, he's probably not going to get a top level job. Expectations at Kansas are literally win more than one game, so he'll have plenty of space and autonomy to rebuild like he wants. If things work out, then he's got a launchpad to a better job  If not, he can probably ride out the rest of his career there and retire before they'd fire him. 

bronxblue

November 16th, 2018 at 5:01 PM ^

I think Kansas uses artificial grass, so I assume at least one condition of him signing is that a piece of sod will have to be placed in front of him at all times to munch on.

AnthonyThomas

November 16th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^

I think this will fail, but more because of Kansas than Miles. I think the comparisons to Weis are a little unfair. Les did not fail at LSU the way Weis failed at Notre Dame. Not even close.

FatGuyTouchdown

November 16th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^

Miles failed at LSU because he couldn't develop a quarterback and schematically fell behind his peers. He recruited well at LSU, but recruiting at Kansas is so much more about identifying talent than it is actually recruiting, because Les aint beating out Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, or Arkansas for a kid in the Great Plains. He may win a recruiting battle or two against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU or K State, but probably not consistently enough to build a consistent winner. He has to be able to find diamonds in the rough and adapt his scheme towards the lack of talent. I don't think a 65 year old Les Miles is capable of pulling it off. Personally, I think it'll fail miserably because Les just did not catch up to modern football. Maybe he'll adjust and I'll be wrong as hell.

MIGHTYMOJO91

November 17th, 2018 at 6:29 AM ^

Not be be a prick, but I hope you are "wrong as hell". You make very valid points no doubt. I like Les and hope he does well at Kansas. If he can somehow deliver 6-8 wins a year there and get them into some bowl games I think that would make the fan base happy. It's a very tall task indeed, but glad to see him back in coaching.

Michigan4Life

November 16th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^

This isn't a good fit but Kansas wanted a splash signing. Les Miles really needs a strong OC or he'll fail because LSU offense has been fucking awful when he's the coach. We'll see how he'll recruit now that he doesn't have the home state advantage that he enjoyed as a LSU coach.

FatGuyTouchdown

November 16th, 2018 at 5:47 PM ^

100% agreed. If he finds the next Lincoln Riley or Chip Kelly that can come in and put together a capable offense, then he could pull this off. But his last 3 offensive coordinators were Gary Crowton, who is currently the OC at a high school, Cam Cameron who is unemployed, and Greg Studrawa who is responsible for the Ohio State offensive line. Not exactly quality or inspiring hires.