Les Miles, Kansas, and the End of (Bad) Days

Now that it’s official that Les Miles is the new head coach of Kansas football, I need an outlet to talk about it other than my poor friends who undoubtedly are beyond tired of my Les Miles .gifs and hourly updates. This post is going to a little different that the usual “How Les Miles Fits at Kansas” or “Can Les Miles Really Succeed at Kansas?” columns. I’m going to write some about what this means for the KU Athletic Department as a unit and what Miles has to do to bring Kansas out of the doldrums.

Background

KU AD Jeff Long and new head coach Les Miles have a long history. They’re both from Ohio and worked together as coaches and then with Long as an administrator at the University of Michigan in the late 80’s. It appeared almost from the day Long took the job at Kansas that Miles was targets A through about W in the search for KU’s new head coach. It was obvious that current HC David Beaty was not making sufficient progress to bring the program back to even mediocrity. The “search” moved into high gear when Long announced Beaty would not be retained after the 2018 season. On November 18, 2018, Long announced Miles accepted the head coaching job at the University of Kansas. The deal was for five years and $13.125 million, far below my expectation (more on this later).

Impact on Kansas Athletics

This may be the most important hire in the history of KUAD. With conference realignment and new TV deals coming within the next decade, KU football needed to at least not be a liability for the university, if not an asset. Miles immediately makes KU football a more valuable property for the university (NO MORE SEASONS OF 11 AM KICKOFFS) and any potential conference *cough* Big Ten *cough* KU may migrate to in the event the Big 12 implodes.

Miles’s contract also has significant implications for KUAD. The base pay in the contract is over $1 million less per year than most thought, allowing KU to earmark funds for other purposes. To put this in context, his base salary is $800,000 less than the 9th highest paid coach in the Big 12. This, along with Miles's buyout settlement with LSU, shows he's still as hungry to win as ever and will do what it takes to be successful. On multiple occasions, AD Long has expressed the need for KU to invest in all parts of the football program, including facilities, support staff, and assistant coaches. I fully expect a comprehensive plan to invest in football to come out of the AD sooner rather than later. It will include stadium renovations, additional staff, and an improved fan experience.

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Miles’s Recipe for Success

Not like he needs my advice given he has a big ring that costs more than my house, there are a few key things Miles has to do to bring KU from a 3 win program to 6 and beyond. Job number one is put together an elite group of assistant coaches. Remember how low his base pay is? This suggests that Coach Miles understands this is critical. I fully expect Miles to put together a tremendous staff that will both improve KU’s product on the field, and attract the talent KU needs to compete for Big 12 wins every year. Some have criticized Miles for being unimaginative and too conservative on offense, but Miles seems to have taken this to heart and could hire an offensive coordinator that has a more wide open philosophy. Former Miami (FL), Michigan, and Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch seems to be the hot name here, though it is just rumored at this point. I wouldn’t worry at all about the defensive side of the ball. Miles always hired tremendous defensive coaches, and with the resources available, this should continue. If I were Miles, I would retain current Associate Head Coach/Running Backs Coach Tony Hull. Hull, a former rocket scientist (for real) has deep ties to the state of Louisiana and was the lead recruiter for junior safety Mike Lee, freshman Corione Harris (CB) and the electric freshman RB Anthony “Pooka” Williams. All are potential building blocks for the new Jayhawks.

This leads nicely into my next point. Miles and co. have to be smart about recruiting. It’s unlikely he’ll be able to regularly land top 5-10 classes like at LSU. The staff needs to keep recruiting traditional KU pipelines: Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. They should also put a fence around the state of Kansas by building and maintaining relationships with high school coaches. While there’s not a lot of talent depth in the state, there are several players each year that are real difference makers for most programs. Names like Blake Bell (Wichita), Arthur Brown (Wichita), Amani Bledsoe (Lawrence), and Jace Ruder (Norton) come to mind. None enrolled at Kansas universities immediately after high school. The state does have enough talent to build a robust walk-on program, a staple of any football program in a state without an abundance of talent (see Nebraska, University of).

Recruiting is especially important given the disaster of a roster David Beaty and his staff are leaving behind. KU graduates 26 seniors this season, and only has 14 true or redshirt freshmen on scholarship. Because the staff moved 11 initial counters forward a season, KU is limited to 14 scholarships available to give out to recruits in 2019. By my count, KU will have between 55 and 60 scholarship players for next season. Miles and his staff will need to hit on almost every signing to bring KU back from the abyss. I hope they avoid quick fixes like relying heavily on junior college players and build from high school talent. KU has been down this road twice recently with Charlie Weis and David Beaty, and it never works. I have faith Miles will build the roster the right way, even if it takes more time to reach our goals.

Expectations

I have relatively modest expectations for the near future. It’s entirely possible KU takes a step back next season and only wins 3 games just because the roster won’t be deep or talented relative to the rest of the Big 12. I do expect the team to be better coached, and for KU to be consistently more competitive. And let’s be honest, Miles isn’t one to call a timeout on 4thand short in positive territory just to punt. That alone makes the change worth it.

KU fans should look to 2020 and beyond to see differences in the win-loss record. The roster will still be young, but with an all-star cast of assistant coaches and recruiting classes to prove it, KU should be competing for a bowl birth in 2020 and could push for double digit wins by the time Miles’s deal is up in 2023.

Some Final Words

Today is an amazing day for the long-suffering KU football fans. We finally have leadership at all levels committed to seeing drastic improvement in the football program. If Miles can put together the staff and Long can provide the resources necessary to compete at the Big 12 level, I have no doubt that Memorial Stadium, Campanile Hill, and Lawrence will be full on gamedays. And that, fellow Jayhawks, will be a sight to behold.