Kansas football: Les Miles ranked in top 40 college coaches

Kansas football head coach and national champion Les Miles has received a pretty good ranking from Sporting News.

Despite only a three-win season during the 2019 campaign, Kansas football head coach Les Miles received a fair ranking from Sporting News. Their ranks placed Miles just inside the top 40 at No. 36 out of 130 college football coaches. Out of the ten Big 12 coaches, Miles came in at No. 7 in the conference, with Lincoln Riley at No. 1 and No. 4 overall.

Since only six current college coaches have won a national title, Les Miles is in some elite company that includes Nick Sabin, Dabo Swinney, Jimbo Fisher, Mack Brown, and Ed Orgeron. Still, Miles’ title did come all the way back in 2007.

While he’s in the back half of the Big 12, it’s important to realize that Miles’ 2019 season at Kansas was his first time coaching since his time at LSU back in 2016. The three-win season was acceptable for his first year with the Jayhawks, but if Miles can step it up to four or five wins in year two, he’d prove that he’s better than No. 36 in the country.

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Better yet, if Miles can take Kansas to a bowl in year two or three, there’s no denying that he’s one of the best coaches in the game. The Jayhawks haven’t won more than three games in a season since 2009, and they haven’t been to a bowl game since 2008.

Resurrecting Kansas football and taking the Jayhawks to a bowl for the first time in over a decade would truly be a great feat, and it should solidify Miles as one of the best college coaches in the conference and country.