K-State Football: Wildcats Should Go After Les Miles

Head Coach Bill Snyder is synonymous with K-State football.  However, with LSU firing Les Miles, K-State needs to look to their future.

The Kansas State Wildcats have seen virtually all of their success come during the two coaching reigns of Bill Snyder.  However, at 76 years old it has to be questioned just how much longer Snyder will be running the show in Manhattan, Kansas.  With the LSU Tigers firing Les Miles, the perfect option for moving forward may have presented itself.

By no stretch of the imagination has Les Miles not been a good coach.  Miles led the LSU Tigers to a National Championship in 2007.  The Tigers also won the SEC Championship that year, plus another in 2011.  Les Miles has had plenty of success as a college football coach.

His worst seasons are a pair of 8-5 years during his tender.  Those are also the only two years that Miles failed to produce a Top 25 team in Baton Rouge.  However, LSU expects to contend for National and SEC Titles every year.  That is where Miles has come up short as he has lived in the shadow of Nick Saban at Alabama for a long stretch.

Enough was enough for LSU, and they Les Miles go…he hasn’t had a losing season since his first year at Oklahoma State in 2001.

K-State Should Think About Their Future

On the other end of the spectrum, the Kansas State Wildcats are in a state of flux.  Head Coach Bill Snyder has built the Wildcats program up to perennial contenders two separate times.  However, he has also already retired once before being convinced to come back in 2009.  On top of that, K-State now appears to be on the downslope.  Not a good thing to convince a 76 year old coach to hang around.

The Wildcats need to be thinking about their future, and Les Miles is available at the perfect time.  There are other programs that will be after him, but KSU offers some good opportunities.  The Big-12 is still open for competition with no dominant program.  Miles can make the Wildcats into that top tier team.

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The question may what can the Kansas State Wildcats offer Les Miles?  Well, the answer is that Miles can rebuild himself as a top tier college coach in the Big-12 again.  That will re-open the doors to his coaching job of choice (such as Alabama when Nick Saban retires).  Miles will have the opportunity to rub success in the face of his former team.  Don’t look past revenge as a motivator.

Will K-State Make The Move?

However, there is the very real possibility that K-State won’t make a move here.  As I mentioned, Bill Snyder is synonymous with Kansas State Wildcats football.  The university may not want to move on from him.  The backlash could be huge if the Wildcats fire Snyder, regardless of who the new coach is.

There is some saving grace there though.  Bill Snyder is currently in the fourth year of a five year contract he signed in 2013.  It very well could be that Snyder intends to retire again soon.  In fact, it would be pretty surprising if he didn’t, especially after considering retirement after last season.  This may actually be a perfect storm for K-State.  A legend with the program retires and the reigns are passed to one of the most respected coaches in college football.

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The Kansas State Wildcats have to think about the future of the program, and Les Miles represents a real opportunity.  K-State is in a perfect position to make a move and become more than just relevant, but an actual contender for the National Championship.  At the very least, adding Miles would make KSU a favorite in the Big-12 every year.