When former LSU Head Coach and national champion Les Miles was hired to be the next head football coach for the Kansas Jayhawks, there was a certain buzz around the program. Many believed this could finally be the hire that would finally bring the Jayhawks from the depths of the Big 12 cellar into relevancy. However, 13 games into the Miles tenure in Lawrence, things are beginning to look like the “same ol’ same ol’.”
Miles currently holds a 3-10 record during his time with the Jayhawks – two of those losses being to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers out of the Sun Belt Conference. Nobody expected an instant improvement, but by year two the Jayhawks were expected to at least handle the lesser competition on their schedule. After Kansas suffered an embarrassing 38-23 loss to the Chanticleers on national television Saturday, it is becoming clear that the Les Miles experiment at Kansas is simply failing.
This started to become evident after Miles’ first recruiting class with the Jayhawks. The ‘Mad Hatter’ failed to attract any 4 or 5 star products, and his class ultimately finished last in the Big 12 recruiting rankings in 2020, according to 247Sports. A hope with bringing in Miles was that he would be a strong enough figure to at least bring in the talent that Kansas needs to turn it around. It just wasn’t meant to be during his first year on the job.
However, things do appear somewhat promising for the Jayhawks’ 2021 class – but that could change quickly. The Jayhawks already have a ding on their resume in 2020 with the loss to Coastal Carolina, and are expected to experience much of the same in Big 12 play. Should Kansas go on to finish the season 0-10, not many more talented recruits will give them a second look prior to signing day. They currently have the 4th-rated class in the Big 12 in 2021, according to 247Sports, but that could change in a hurry if things do not get turned around this season – and quickly.
Les Miles is human, he will be outcoached from time to time. But the extent of how outcoached he was by Coastal Carolina’ Jamey Chadwell was laughable. Being that Miles is Miles, he is expected to have his team ready to go week in and week out. In absolutely no way did the Jayhawks display preparedness or even effort against the Chanticleers on Saturday. When a team looks this bad, it will almost always fall back on the head coach and his staff.
The way things are trending in Lawrence, the Les Miles era could be over before it even gets started. Even Mountaineer fans have been rooting for Kansas to turn it around. It is hard to watch a team like the Jayhawks struggle for as long as they have. The Big 12 needs Kansas to turn it around to help the conference’s national relevance to become stronger, but it simply isn’t happening.
Les Miles is a legendary coach, but it appears that even he cannot turn around the misfortunes of Kansas Football.
