Les Miles
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Les Miles, born on November 10, 1953 in Elyria, Ohio, is the head football coach of the Louisiana State Tigers in the NCAA collegiate football tournament. Miles' career first began as a player, earning all-state honors in football at Elyria High School in Ohio as well as letters in baseball and wrestling. Outside of the playing field, Miles is actively involved in charity events along with his wife Kathy. Aside from holding fundraisers every year for the Children’s Miracle Network, Miles has also taken part in other community service events such as the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer annual fundraiser, the Special Olympics and the Baton Rouge Children’s Advocacy Center Celebrity Waiter Event. When not on the field or at charity events, Miles can be found spending time with his four-year old daughter Macy Grace while cheering on his other kids, Kathryn a.k.a "Smacker" (swimming, basketball, and volleyball), Manny and Ben (both in football, baseball, and Wrestling), who are all active in various sports. His wife Karen, a former assistant women’s basketball coach at the collegiate level, spends time serving as a coach for Smacker's AAU basketball team.
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Playing and Assistant Coaching Career
Miles attended University of Michigan where he was a two year letterman under Coach Bo Schembechler from 1974 to 75 and five years later, made his return to his alma mater as an assistant to his college football coach. In 1982, he left Michigan to coach at the University of Colorado where a fellow Michigan assistant, Coach Bill McCartney, had just been named head coach. In 1987, he returned to Michigan and helped the Wolverines to eight consecutive winning seasons and bowl appearances. He left Michigan again eight years later after Gary Moeller's resignation and joined former Colorado assistant Bob Simmons' staff at Oklahoma State as offensive coordinator. Miles also coached in the pros from 1998 through 2000 as the Dallas Cowboys' tight ends coach.
Oklahoma State
Miles made his return to Oklahoma State in 2001 and in his four-year tenure shaped the Cowboys' football program into one that is highly competitive. Under his tutelage, the Cowboys were the only team in the nation to beat Oklahoma twice in the last four years, and he was also the first coach in Oklahoma State history to post wins over Nebraska and Oklahoma in the same season. He also led OSU to its first-three consecutive bowl appearances since 1983. Their appearance in the Cotton Bowl to cap the 2003 season also marked the first time in 55 years that the Cowboys appeared in a January bowl game.
Under Miles' direction, Oklahoma State made a turn around from winning only 13 of 33 games in three years from 1998-2000, to a 28-21 record from 2001-04. Miles' winning percentage, 57.1%, also happened to be the best career winning mark for an OSU coach since Jim Lookabaugh ended his career in Stillwater in 1949.
2002
Oklahoma State finished the year with an 8-5 record, winning six of their last seven games capped by a 38-28 victory over then-3rd ranked Oklahoma. The Cowboys ended their season with a 33-23 win over Southern Miss in the Houston Bowl, the team's first postseason appearance since 1997. Back then, the OSU offense were averaging 34.4 points per game, 259 passing yards per game, and 403.3 yards of total offense per game. Miles was then adjudged as the 2002 Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year.
2003
On Miles' third year as OSU head coach, the Cowboys went 9-4 with wins over eventual Big 12 Champion Kansas State and a bowl-bound Texas Tech squad. The team began the year with a loss to Nebraska but piled up seven straight wins (longest winning streak since 1949's 9-0) thereafter. With an offense anchored on NFL draftees Rashaun Woods (1,000-yard receiver) and Tatum Bell (1,000-yard rusher), the Cowboys closed out the season with back-to-back victories.
2004
The Cowboys began the year with five consecutive wins to reach as high as no.15 in the rankings before finishing the year with a 7-5 record. OSU, averaging 237 rush yards per game (12th in the nation) and 32.3 points per game, also did not lose to a team outside of the top 25.
LSU
2005
Miles was named as head coach of the Louisiana State Tigers in January of 2005 in lieu of Nick Saban who took the head coaching job at the Miami Dolphins football team in the NFL. Miles' tenure came at the time Louisiana was struck by Hurricane Katrina but it obviously did not affect his rookie year at LSU as he led the Tigers to a 10-1 regular season record capped by wins over several ranked teams namely 15th ranked Arizona State, 11th ranked Florida, 16th ranked Auburn, and 4th ranked Alabama. The only stain in what could've been an unblemished debut regular season for Miles was a heartbreaking loss to 10th ranked Tennessee in which the Tigers took a commanding three touchdown lead at the half only to loss by three in overtime. The loss to the Vols was one of two defeats for LSU in the 2005-06 season, with the other one sustained in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, Georgia where the 3rd ranked Tigers lost 14-34 to Georgia. LSU regrouped and came back to win the 2005 Peach Bowl over the 9th ranked Miami Hurricanes, 40-3.
Miles' completed his maiden year at LSU with an 11-2 record, and the Tigers ranked 5th in the AP Polls and 6th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
2006
Miles followed up on his successful rookie year at LSU by equalling the ten wins he gathered the previous year to register the first ever back-to-back 10-season wins in LSU history. The Tigers ended the year with seven straight wins highlighted by a lopsided victory over Notre Dame in the 2006 Sugar Bowl, 41-14. Some of the feats he accomplished in his sophomore year at LSU was beating two top 10 teams on the road at the same season (Tigers defeated 8th ranked Tennessee in Knoxville and 5th ranked Arkansas in Little Rock) which is a first since Jerry Stovall did it in 1982. His 6-2 SEC win record in 2006 raises his total to 13-3 which trails only Bernie Moore as the best start for an LSU head coach in league games in school history. Moore won 15 of his first 16 conference games from 1934-36.
Highlights
| LSU Head Football Coach Les Miles talks to reporters at SEC Media Days in Hoover, AL. |
Year-by-Year
| Year | School | Record | Bowl | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant Coach | ||||
| 1980 | Michigan | 10-2 | Rose | Big 10 Champions |
| 1981 | Michigan | 9-3 | Bluebonnet | Ranked No. 12 |
| 1982 | Colorado | 2-8-1 | ||
| 1983 | Colorado | 4-7 | ||
| 1984 | Colorado | 1-10 | ||
| 1985 | Colorado | 7-5 | Freedom | |
| 1986 | Colorado | 6-6 | Bluebonnet | |
| 1987 | Michigan | 8-4 | Hall of Fame | Ranked No. 19 |
| 1988 | Michigan | 9-2-1 | Rose | Rose Bowl Champions |
| 1989 | Michigan | 10-2 | Rose | Big 10 Champions |
| 1990 | Michigan | 9-3 | Cotton | Cotton Bowl Champions |
| 1991 | Michigan | 10-2 | Rose | Big 10 Champions |
| 1992 | Michigan | 9-0-3 | Rose | Rose Bowl Champions |
| 1993 | Michigan | 8-4 | Hall of Fame | |
| 1994 | Michigan | 8-4 | Holiday | Holiday Bowl Champions |
| 1995 | Oklahoma State | 4-8 | ||
| 1996 | Oklahoma State | 5-6 | ||
| 1997 | Oklahoma State | 8-4 | Alamo | |
| 1998 | Dallas Cowboys | 10-6 | Divisional Champions | |
| 1999 | Dallas Cowboys | 8-8 | ||
| 2000 | Dallas Cowboys | 5-11 | ||
| Head Coach | ||||
| 2001 | Oklahoma State | 4-7 | ||
| 2002 | Oklahoma State | 8-5 | Houston | Houston Bowl Champions |
| 2003 | Oklahoma State | 9-4 | Cotton | |
| 2004 | Oklahoma State | 7-5 | Alamo | |
| 2005 | LSU | 11-2 | Peach | SEC Western Division Champions; Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Champions |
| 2006 | LSU | 11-2 | Sugar | Allstate Sugar Bowl Champions |
