Ask Farrell: Can Les Miles raise the bar at Kansas?
This is the reality Les Miles now faces as the Kansas football coach: The Jayhawks have not had a winning season since 2008. Since that time the Big 12 cellar-dweller is 23-96.
Kansas was 6-42 under coach David Beaty, who was fired earlier this season. They won two conference games in four years of his tenure. Prior to Beaty’s time in Lawrence, coach Charlie Weis had limited success as did Turner Gill before him.
The last time Kansas football made any positive news on the national front was in 2007 when the Jayhawks went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl under coach Mark Mangino. But Kansas has only had three double-digit win seasons in its entire program’s history - in 2007, 1995 and 1905.
It’s been rough.
So here comes Miles, a consummate winner who had been a head coach since 2001 at Oklahoma State, his only losing season ever. After that opening stanza in Stillwater, he turned the Cowboys around quickly and then left for LSU where he never had a losing campaign and was still fired four games into the 2016 season. In Baton Rouge, Miles compiled a record of 114-34, won a national championship and played in another.
The rebuilding project at Kansas is massive. In a conference where Oklahoma and Texas have dominated, where West Virginia has become a serious player and where basically every team can provide problems in one way or another, can Miles turn the Jayhawks into a team that regularly goes to bowl games?
We ask Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell for his thoughts on whether Miles can have any success in Lawrence or if he’ll be the next in a line of coaches to rack up major losses there.
FARRELL'S TAKE
“I’d be crazy to say that I think Miles can have sustained success at Kansas based on the history of the football program. Will they be better than they were under Beaty? Yes, Miles is a good enough coach and will put together a staff that will allow them to compete for a bowl game every few years. But can they become a consistent winner? I don’t see it happening.
"Recruiting is a tough task at Kansas, many consider it a basketball school and being a bottom dweller in the Big 12 for so long takes a toll. Miles is a good coach and a great fit for the job, but I don’t think his record will be better than .500 before it is all said and done.”
