What happened to Les Miles?

Submitted by Mich04-08 on December 10th, 2020 at 4:05 PM

He went from making Oklahoma State a winner, to making LSU a title contender every year and winning a National Championship, to getting snubbed as Michigan's coach for Hoke, to a winless season as the Kansas Jayhawks head coach.

Is that him losing his stuff, an indictment of how bad Kansas has historically been, or both?

titanfan11

December 10th, 2020 at 8:43 PM ^

I like Campbell...but Devil's Advocate question here:

Being at a place like Iowa State, does Campbell have the luxury of sneaking up on teams?  Teams like Oklahoma get everyone's best shot, and they are bound to have days where they overlook a team.  Or, did the sneaking up go out the window the more they have pulled upsets?

Just thinking out loud (but not really, just typing) that Ohio State typically loses that random game to a Purdue who plays it like their National Championship.  Does Iowa State pull those same wins?  

mitchewr

December 10th, 2020 at 4:37 PM ^

I think he was a really really good coach...in his time, 2005-2011. 2005-2007 he wins 11 games, 11 games, and 12 games plus the natty. Then in 2011 he goes 13-1 wins the SEC championship game and loses the natty. Was he Saban great? Nah. But he was still one of the best coaches in his day.

I think he's just another example of a coach who's really good when it's his time to shine and then starts to fade as the game passes him by. After going 13-1 in 2011 he went 10-3, 10-3, 8-5, 9-3, 2-2. So clearly his output declined until the writing was on the wall and LSU realized it was time to move on. And realize Les Miles did all this while hauling in some fantastic recruiting classes, so it's not like the team was just a dearth of talent. I also think that he clearly got a jump start from Saban's time at LSU, though I wouldn't give Saban all the credit.

To me it's a good lesson in catching coaches at the right time. If LSU catches Miles too soon or too late, they probably never get that natty, or those 11+ win seasons. Sorta makes you think about our situation with Harbaugh. Did we just get him at the wrong point in his career? I think an argument could definitely be made that we're on the down-swing end of his coaching bell curve, so it just makes you wonder "what if" if we had landed Harbaugh say back in 2007 when he was still young and up and coming and fresh off two back to back 11-1 conference title winning seasons at San Diego. Lloyd could have retired sooner like he wanted. The Rich Rod era probably wouldn't have happened and the program wouldn't have gotten tanked. Obviously Hoke probably doesn't happen either. Ryan Mallet probably sticks around, etc. 

mi93

December 10th, 2020 at 4:59 PM ^

Miles suffered arguably the worst BCS/playoff hose job of all time.  He beat Bama, at Bama, during the season.  No way he should have had to beat them again.  Home field matters and LSU took care of business on the road.  I don't care that game 2 was a neutral site, and don't care if Bama was the second best team.  Really shouldn't have mattered and LSU shouldn't have had to prove it 2x.

I'm extra salty about it because of 2006, when M lost on the road.  Straight up BS.

allezbleu

December 10th, 2020 at 4:21 PM ^

Above average program manager. Fantastic recruiter. Mediocre x's and o's coach. He came to LSU at an opportune time after Saban set the foundation. 

Frustrated the LSU fanbase by absolutely wasting incredible offensive talent every year but always kept LSU in contention and eventually broke through with a natty that one fluky season. In the twilight of his career the game's evolution towards offense was not kind to him.

skatin@the_palace

December 10th, 2020 at 5:54 PM ^

I mean you could even make the argument that he hampered QBs too. Matt Flynn did display some ability along with Zach Mettenberger. Have to wonder what could have been if the offensive coaching staff in Baton Rouge was able to help them develop even a little bit. Even allowing Justin Jefferson to run a QB run that wasn't the veer would have been nice. Alas, hindsight is 20/20.