Kansas Athletics: It’s Time to Cut Ties with Les Miles
When Les Miles was first hired at Kansas, I had questions. And after his first press conference at Big 12 Media Days back in 2019, I was left with more questions than answers.
Back in the summer of 2019, before Les had even coached a down at Kansas, he had a situation on his hands. Superstar running back Pooka Williams Jr. was arrested for domestic violence in December of 2018. He was suspended for team activities for several months but when the season rolled around, Pooka only ended up missing one game of the 2019 season. And while Les didn’t directly issue the punishment, how could someone let that happen and give them a slap on the wrist like that? How could head coach Les Miles and Athletic Director Jeff Long be ok with that? All questions that weren’t answered.
Of course, now we have a whole different mess less than two years later. On Thursday, an internal investigation by LSU revealed that Les Miles had inappropriate behavior with female student workers back in 2013. I am not going to get into the details of the report as you can read them here but that type of behavior is unacceptable, especially for a head football coach who should be the one leading by example.
There will still be plenty of questions to be answered in the next few weeks in the court system, but it doesn’t really matter what Les Miles has to say.
Why? Because Kansas should cut ties with him as soon as possible.
I am not one to sugar coat things but let’s face it, Les Miles was brought into Lawrence to draw money to the football program. Everyone knows he was way past his prime years ago and anyone arguing that would be a fool. Kansas just paid him 3.3 million dollars this past season to go 0-9.
Sure, the program appears to be on more solid ground in terms of recruiting but is Les Miles worth the headache to keep? Hell no. In fact, Kansas should be wanting to distance themselves as much as possible from this situation because the football program doesn’t need to drop down more than it already is. And by the way, how many assistant football coaches have walked in and out of that revolving coaching door under Miles?
That brings me to my next point. The man needing to make that decision is none other than Athletic Director Jeff Long. Long was set on hiring Les Miles no matter what. Did Kansas do their due diligence on Les Miles before hiring him and leave no stone unturned? I seriously doubt it because Les was his “buddy”. And keep in mind, this is the same man that did everything in his power to not pay former head coach David Beaty his three million dollars that he was owed by the university after being fired due to “NCAA violations”.
Think Jeff Long would do that do a man like Bill Self the current basketball coach? Absolutely not. In fact, after Kansas basketball got caught cheating, you know what the basketball program did? The following season they had their annual “Midnight Madness” event filled with Snoop Dogg (who is sponsored by Adidas), spraying money guns and pole dancers. And beforehand, none other than Jeff Long posing for pictures with Snoop Dogg before the show.
I am not normally one to call for people’s jobs. No job is easy. Heck, I am not even one to argue with someone how to do their job. We all have unique ways we do certain things. Me? I like to type away on my keyboard and typically wash it down with a glass of bourbon. However, while not everyone may agree with my writing method or my opinions, I know there are certain lines than can’t be crossed and if you mess up, fix it.
When it comes to handling situations, there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things. And while Kansas has appeared to make two bad hires in Les Miles and Jeff Long, there is still time for the university to turn things around and start fresh. Its time Kanas, move on.
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