LES MILES

'Les Miles' (born November 10, 1953 in Elyria, Ohio) is an American college football coach and the current head coach of the LSU Tigers. Prior to holding that position, he was head coach at Oklahoma State. He was formerly an assistant at Oklahoma State University as well as with the University of Michigan, the University of Colorado and the Dallas Cowboys.

Contents

Playing and assistant coaching careers

Oklahoma State

LSU

Year-by-year records

Playing and assistant coaching careers

Miles attended the University of Michigan, where he was a two year letterman under legendary Coach Bo Schembechler in 1974-75. In 1980, Miles returned to Michigan as an assistant coach to Schembechler. In 1982, Miles left Michigan to coach at the University of Colorado with Coach Bill McCartney. Miles returned to Michigan in 1987 and for the next eight years helped lead the team to eight consecutive winning seasons and bowl appearances.

Oklahoma State

In 1995, Miles became offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State University. After a three year stint in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys as tight ends coach, Miles returned to OSU in 2001 as head coach. In the three years prior to Miles's arrival in Stillwater, OSU finished 5-6, 5-6, and 3-8. Then Miles took over and went 4-7 his first year, but then went 8-5, 9-4, and 7-5 -- taking his team to the Houston Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, and the Alamo Bowl.
During the last game of Miles' first season as head coach, OSU faced Oklahoma, who was ranked #4 in the nation. Despite the fact that OSU was facing Oklahoma on the road, Miles led his team to a 16-13 upset victory over the Sooners (who ended up finishing the season ranked #6 after winning the Cotton Bowl).
During Miles's second season, OSU again ended the regular season with a game against Oklahoma. This time Oklahoma was ranked the #3 team in the country. And yet again, Miles led his team to a 38-28 upset victory over the Sooners (who ended up finishing the season ranked #5 after winning the Rose Bowl). As a result of his performance during his second year, Miles was named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year by the Associated Press in 2002.
In December 2004, while in San Antonio ostensibly preparing his 7-4 OSU team to face Ohio State in the Alamo Bowl, Miles met with officials from LSU to interview for the Tigers' Head Coaching position. When questioned about his interest in that job, Miles denied meeting with LSU representatives and denied interest in the job. Nonetheless, days after his Cowboy team was routed 33-7 by Ohio State, Miles resigned to take the LSU job.

LSU

In January of 2005, Miles was named the head coach of Louisiana State University and inherited one of the most talented teams in the nation. He replaced Nick Saban, who had left LSU to take over the Miami Dolphins.
In his first season, Miles had an outstanding year. LSU won the 2005 SEC Western Division title with a 10-1 regular season record -- including wins over #15 Arizona State (9/10/05), #11 Florida (10/15/05), #16 Auburn (10/22/05) and #4 Alabama (11/12/05). LSU's only regular season loss was a shocking upset at home to #10 Tennessee (9/26/05). After building a seemingly insurmountable 21-0 lead at halftime, Miles seemed perplexed in the second half as his Tigers failed to score another touchdown, finally succumbing to UT 30-27 in overtime. In the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, Georgia, the #3-ranked LSU Tigers though favored, were dismantled by #13 Georgia in a 34-14 shellacking. LSU recovered to win the 2005 Peach Bowl with a 40-3 romp of the #9-ranked Miami Hurricanes. Miles finished his first season at LSU with an 11-2 record, a #6 ranking in the USA Today Coaches Poll, and a #5 ranking in the AP Poll.
Perhaps the biggest success LSU has had under Miles, apart from wins and losses, was the team's ability to withstand the trauma caused by Hurricane Katrina, which struck south Louisiana in August of 2005, just days before Miles was to make his debut as the coach of the Tigers. LSU's first game, a home date against North Texas, was postponed until later in the season. The Tigers second game, against Arizona State, was moved from Baton Rouge to Tempe because the LSU campus was still serving as an emergency center for Hurricane Katrina relief. The conference opener against the University of Tennessee was also delayed, this time because of Hurricane Rita. The game was played two days late. Despite all this, LSU persevered and became somewhat of a rallying point for the beleaguered people of Louisiana.
Miles' and LSU's 2006 regular season was just as successful as the 2005 regular season in terms of wins and losses, but did not include a division or conference championship. For the second season in a row, LSU finished the regular season with ten wins (10-2), and ended the season with six straight wins. 2006 marked the first time in LSU history that the Tigers finished with back-to-back 10-win seasons. Miles was able to do this in spite of his team playing its four toughest games on the road. All four games were against teams ranked in the top eight when the game took place, with three of the teams in the top five (Auburn, Florida, Arkansas). LSU split those four games, losing to Auburn and Florida, but beating Tennessee and Arkansas. LSU did not win the SEC West title, finishing one game behind Arkansas. However, the Tigers were ranked ahead of Arkansas at the end of the regular season, and were rewarded with an invitation to face Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl where they soundly defeated the Irish 41-14. LSU finished the 2006 season ranked #3 overall in both the AP and ESPN polls.

Year-by-year records

Year	School	Wins	Losses	Ties	Percentage	Bowl Game
2001	Oklahoma State	4	7	0	.364
2002	Oklahoma State	8	5	0	.615	Houston Bowl
2003	Oklahoma State	9	4	0	.692	Cotton Bowl
2004	Oklahoma State	7	5	0	.583	Alamo Bowl
2005	LSU	11	2	0	.846	Peach Bowl
2006	LSU	11	2	0	.846	Sugar Bowl
2007	LSU	2	0	0	1.000
'TOTALS'		'52'	'25'	'0'	'.675'