Kansas Football: Jayhawks can expect an uptick in wins in 2019

In the offseason, Kansas football made the most surprising head coach hiring of all NCAA teams, luring Les Miles away from television. Now, Miles sets out to rebuild a program that’s been without a winning record since 2008.

It was that season before 2008, however, that both Les Miles and the Kansas Jayhawks saw their respective peaks.

In 2007, Miles led the LSU Tigers to a national title with a 38-24 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second BCS Championship Game. In Lawrence, head coach Mark Mangino led the Jayhawks to a 12-1 (7-1) record that culminated in an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech.

The good times ended much more swiftly for the Jayhawks than they did for Miles. Mangino lasted just two more seasons at KU, the last of which the team finished 5-7 (1-7). Since his departure, three head coaches–Turner Gill, Charlie Weiss, and David Beaty–all tried to resurrect the program.

All three utterly failed.

In Baton Rouge, Miles lasted another eight seasons and some change, but fell victim to his own early success. His Tigers once more reached the BCS Championship Game in 2011 only to lose to the SEC’s new powerhouse, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

What made that loss worse was the fact that Miles replaced Alabama’s Nick Saban at LSU when Saban bolted for the NFL. Upon his return to college football, Saban picked up where he left off, leaving Miles in the dust in the process.

Jump forward to 2016: the LSU Tigers started off 2-2, and the boosters finally got their wish: the administration let go of Miles with dreams of hiring a bigger name, an offensive guru that would re-charge the program.

Instead, they settled for Ed Orgeron.

And so now, after two years out of coaching, Les Miles returns, teaming up with the Kansas Jayhawks with the goal of getting the program back on track, which would all but cement Miles’ legacy.

But in Year One, things won’t go very smoothly.