Les Miles coaching career: Former college football coach's professional career explored
It has been a few years since the former CFB coach Les Miles led a team on the gridiron.
Miles is widely known for his stint with the LSU Tigers from 2005 to 2016. However, when he joined the Kansas Jayhawks in 2018, he found himself in serious allegations of misconduct.
That led to Les Miles mutually agreeing with the Jayhawks to step down as their coach. Since then, he has not made his way back into the college football scene with any other team.
In this article, we look back at the coaching career Miles had before the allegations in Kansas.
Exploring the coaching career of Les Miles
The 69-year-old started off his college football coaching journey in 1980 with the Michigan Wolverines.
He served for two years as a graduate assistant, after which he left for Colorado in 1982, where he was offered the position of offensive lineman coach. That saw a reunion with former Michigan assistant coach Bill McCartney, as he was then named the coach of the Buffs.
Miles then made his way back to Michigan once again in 1987 as the offensive lineman coach. He continued to be a part of the coaching staff even after Bo Schembechler retired in 1990 and was replaced by Gary Moeller.
However, in 1995 Moeller was forced to resign because of being arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. That led to Miles parting ways with the Wolverines.
That year, the 69-year-old former coach was offered the job of offensive coordinator with Oklahoma State. After the 1997 season, he made his way to the NFL, where he served a short stint as the tight ends coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 1998 to 2000.
Les Miles began his head coaching journey after his NFL stint when he returned to Oklahoma State as their coach in 2001. His debut season with Oklahoma State did not go as planned, as they recorded a 4-7 losing season.
However, the next three stints saw him rack up consecutive winning seasons and secure invitations to the Houston Bowl in 2002, Cotton Bowl in 2003 and Alamo Bowl in 2004.
Les Miles: Stats and records with the LSU Tigers
Following his head coaching debut with Oklahoma State, Les Miles was named the 32nd coach of the LSU Tigers in January 2005. This 11-season stint with LSU is the reason why he rose to fame in the college football world.
His first season with the Tigers resulted in the team winning the SEC West championship. Despite losing the SEC championship game to the Georgia Bulldogs, Miles ended the season with an 11-2 overall record, with the Tigers being ranked No.5 in the AP rankings.
He ended his second season with LSU with a 10-2 record, the first time in the program's history that they recorded consecutive 10-win seasons. The 69-year-old's most successful season in LSU was during the 2007 season. The team won the SEC title after beating Tennessee 21-14.
They then beat Ohio State 38-24 in the national championship game, marking the first national championship for Les Miles and the program's third.
LSU won the SEC championship once again in 2011 by beating Georgia, but they were whitewashed 21-0 by Alabama in the national finals. In 2016, though, after a disappointing 2-2 record to begin the season, LSU fired Miles along with offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.
Miles found himself in allegations of misconduct while with the Kansas Jayhawks
After being fired by LSU, Les Miles was brought in by Kansas as their head coach in Nov. 2018.
However, he did not enjoy the same success as he did with LSU. He failed to lead the Jayhawks to a winning season and also went 0-9 during the 2020 short season because of the COVID-19 pandemic
Unfortunately, in 2021, his coaching career took an unexpected turn. He was accused of sexual misconduct with female students at LSU in 2013.
That led to him and Kansas mutually agreeing to part ways, resulting in a $1.99 million buyout of the five-year $13.8 million contract that he had signed with Kansas.