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Les Miles the next Head Coach at Kansas


Vic Mackey

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2 hours ago, Teryor said:

It's fascinating seeing the names being thrown out, I don't think most would even consider the position

 

Here's Feldman 

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Kansas and Les Miles announced on Monday night they had mutually agreed to part ways. Miles had a dismal two-year run as the Jayhawks’ head coach that came to an abrupt end after investigations into his improper conduct with female student employees during his time at LSU were revealed.

Miles’ run at Kansas was a mess, and whoever takes over this program will find it in worse shape than when the former LSU coach arrived in 2018. The Jayhawks went 1-16 in Big 12 play and 3-18 overall. They only had one Big 12 game last year that was decided by less than 21 points: a 16-13 loss to Texas Tech.

Given the circumstances the Kansas football program is now dealing with, you’d think the school will look to find a proven head coach who can bring some stability, rather than gamble on a first-time head coach. Yes, Miles was a proven winner when Kansas hired him, but he was also a coach that a bunch of programs had passed on because they didn’t buy that he was capable of fixing Jayhawks football at this stage of his career.

The timing to go find a new head coach, as many programs are already deep into their offseason programs, is rough. But we expect there will still be a few proven Group of Five coaches who will at least listen.

The most viable option for Kansas, based on what we’ve heard from industry sources, is Buffalo’s Lance Leipold. The 56-year-old has strong Midwest ties, knows the Big 12 footprint, and is a proven winner, having won six Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He left for Buffalo, one of the toughest places to win in the FBS, and has won there, too. In his fourth season, the Bulls went 10-4. They are 24-10 over the last three years, and that includes a top-25 finish in 2020. Leipold, a two-time MAC Coach of the Year, keeps finding and developing big-time players. He also spent over a decade coaching in Nebraska and worked three seasons on Frank Solich’s staff with the Cornhuskers.

Nevada’s Jay Norvell also knows the Big 12 very well. He’s been the offensive coordinator at both Nebraska and Oklahoma and was an assistant at Texas and Iowa State. The former Iowa player has also done a very impressive job working with limited resources in the Mountain West. The Wolf Pack are 22-13 over the past three years. The 57-year-old has been in the mix for some other Power 5 jobs and might listen, given his ties to the area.

Army’s Jeff Monken and his offensive system might be very tempting at a place where being conventional seems like too much of an uphill climb. Monken’s option attack has been remarkably efficient. The 53-year-old Illinois native is 43-21 in his last five seasons at Army. In 2018, he led Army to its best season in 60 years. In 2019, his team took No. 7 Michigan to double-overtime before losing 24-21. In 208, Army took No. 5 Oklahoma to OT before losing 28-21 and then beat Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl … by 56 points. Keep in mind the Black Knights had one winning season in the 17 years before he arrived. This is a coach who knows all about turnaround jobs.

A MAC head coach that might draw some interest from Kansas is Ball State’s Mike Neu, 50, who had an amazing season leading the Cardinals to the league title and then whipping San Jose State in a bowl game to earn a top-25 finish. Neu has been at every level of football. He played in the CFL and in the Arena Football League before coaching there. He then was an NFL scout and an assistant with the New Orleans Saints. He also has made some very shrewd hires in Muncie.

Tulane’s Willie Fritz, a former defensive back at Pittsburg State in Kansas, has spent a lot of years in the state. He’s also won a lot of games as a college coach, going 97-47 at Central Missouri, 40-15 at Sam Houston State, 17-7 at Georgia Southern and now has upgraded the Tulane program into respectability. The 60-year-old has been very good everywhere he’s been.

Wyoming’s Craig Bohl is another proven winner with Big 12-area roots. A 62-year-old Nebraska native, who played defensive back for the Cornhuskers and later coached at Nebraska, Bohl spent a decade as the head coach at North Dakota State, where he won three national titles before boosting the Wyoming program. NDSU had gone 2-8 the year before he arrived in Fargo. He’s spent seven years with the Cowboys and is 38-44 but has had three eight-win seasons. They had only had three winning seasons in the prior 14 years.

These coaches are all solid options, especially under the circumstances. None had the cache that Miles had when he was hired, but they’re all more capable at this stage of their career in light of the effort and organization it will take to rebuild.

 

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Les Miles' departure from Kansas feels inevitable. Who might replace him?

Pete Thamel

Sat, March 6, 2021, 1:32 PM·7 min read

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Les Miles

The University of Kansas placed coach Les Miles on administrative leave on Friday night, the first step in a departure that appears inevitable.

A series of untoward allegations arose against Miles during his time coaching at LSU, which include unwelcome advances to multiple student employees and ignoring his athletic director’s orders to not contact student workers.

Miles is 3-18 in two seasons at Kansas and the allegations against him leave no clear path to returning to the sideline. Miles has denied the allegations, and his attorney released a statement Saturday to The Advocate saying Kansas had "significant information" about the 2013 sexual harassment investigation and labeled the events of the last 24 hours as "deeply disturbing."

When Miles departs, the first question will be who’ll make the next hire. Athletic director Jeff Long has bungled nearly every move since arriving at Kansas, including getting legally smacked down in court in the school’s attempt to avoid David Beaty’s buyout. He's also tagged with the Miles hire, which has been an epic failure on the field and showed a lack of due diligence by Long.

It’s unclear whether Kansas’ administration would decide on an interim coach for a season, or run a full-on search during a time when most programs are either running spring practice or poised to start. If Kansas can get its act together — a huge if considering the school’s recent football history — it could land a much better coach this spring than if it waits until November and faces open-market competition. But if Kansas fires Long and needs to hire an athletic director before a coach, that’s a ponderous process.

Here’s what’s known: No school over the past decade-plus has failed more miserably in hiring coaches than Kansas, which since 2010 has brought in a conga line of flops: Turner Gill, Charlie Weis, David Beaty and Miles. The school’s record over that time is 21-108 with a pair of winless seasons and no season with more than three victories.

Who could replace Les Miles as Kansas head coach? It depends greatly on who's making the hire. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The big X-factor here is whether Long will be around to make the hire. (The fact he also hired Bobby Petrino at Arkansas will likely loom here, too.) On campus, Long doesn’t have a ton of support. And his handling of assistant coach contracts has given him a bad reputation within the industry and hurt Kansas’ ability to recruit and retain top talent. Long’s insistence on inordinately high buyouts and one-sided deals has made staffing at one of the Power 5’s hardest jobs even harder.

Here’s a look at potential successors for Miles at Kansas when the job opens and if the school looks to the outside. (We also examine a potential interim situation.)

1. Willie Fritz, Tulane

Fritz, 60, is the closest thing Kansas could bring in to a sure thing. He’s got deep roots in the region, as he played college ball and later coached high school and junior college in the state. Fritz has proven to be a relentless winner at every level, which gives his candidacy a high floor. His Tulane tenure includes three straight bowl games at a place that had been to three bowls in the previous 20 years.

2. Lance Leipold, Buffalo

Leipold, 56, emerged as a hot candidate in the past cycle, as his name emerged at Vanderbilt, Illinois and Tennessee. He’s led Buffalo to both bowl wins in program history and twice won MAC Coach of the Year. He also won six Division III national titles and went 109-6 at Wisconsin-Whitewater. A similar proven winner with a high floor.

3. Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech

Holtz, 56, has proven a paragon of consistency, reaching bowl games in each of the past seven seasons. His ability to put together staffs after a constant churn of turnover and to identify, recruit and develop strong rosters every year in an adjacent footprint would be attractive at Kansas. In 21 seasons as a head coach at hard jobs — UConn, ECU, USF and La Tech — he’s had just six losing seasons.

4. Troy Calhoun, Air Force

Calhoun, 54, has turned down a handful of Power 5 jobs over the years. Perhaps this is the right fit. He’s led Air Force to 10 bowl games in 14 years and won more than 58 percent of his games. He’s got the background from the NFL and his time at Wake Forest to evolve the offense.

Is Kansas the right job to finally lure Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun into the Power 5? (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

5. Jay Norvell, Nevada

The Wolf Pack will be loaded next season, which means Norvell will be one of the hottest candidates in the 2021 cycle. Norvell, 57, has extensive Big 12 experience coaching at Iowa State, Nebraska, Texas and Oklahoma. He’s 22-13 the last three years with three bowl appearances.

6. Mike Elko, Texas A&M defensive coordinator

This is a tall task for an assistant, but Elko, 44, has shown the chops as part of reviving the programs at both Wake Forest and Notre Dame as an assistant. Elko projects as one of the most coveted assistants in the next cycle after fielding the SEC’s top defense in 2020. He’s the caliber of coach they’d struggle to land in a more competitive market.

7. Jeff Monken, Army

He drew interest from both Vanderbilt and South Carolina this cycle. His high school roots in Illinois give him a natural Midwestern presence. Another proven winner and rebuilder who’d provide an upgrade.

8. Sean Lewis, Kent State

His name has come in searches the past two cycles, including at UCF this year. Kent led the nation in scoring offense this season (49.8 ppg), although they only played four games. After leading Kent to the program’s first-ever bowl win, Lewis has shown the ability to execute in the most difficult circumstances.

9. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy

Another proven winner at a difficult job, Niumatalolo would instill discipline and identity in a program that’s lacked both since Mark Mangino left town. Niumatalolo, 55, has gone 101-67 with 11 bowl games in 14 seasons. Those are results worth considering.

10. Jason Candle, Toledo

He’s won 65 percent of his games, a MAC title and appeared to solve the program’s defensive issues with a savvy DC hire last year in Vince Kehres. Candle interviewed at Missouri and Boston College two years ago, and his offense and play-calling pedigree would fit well in the wide-open Big 12.

11. Mike Neu, Ball State

The MAC champions from 2020 have a great chance to repeat, returning 20 of 22 starters on a roster that projects 16 so-called “Super Seniors.” Neu brings a dynamic passing game from his time with the New Orleans Saints and just showed the patience to endure a long rebuild at Ball State.

Interim Kansas candidates

The school hasn’t named an interim coach, though sources told Yahoo Sports that Long has tabbed new offensive coordinator Mike DeBord as the point person for the program for now.

DeBord’s chances at the interim job would depend on who is in charge, as he has a close relationship with both Miles and Long. That could hurt him if Long ends up in the crosshairs. Also, DeBord was hired a month ago and hasn’t had time to build strong relationships with the players.

If Kansas decides to fire Long, hire a new AD and then run a search after the 2021 season, the most likely internal candidate would be defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot. He enters his ninth season as a DC at a Power 5 school, including stints at Kentucky and Colorado. Of the returning coaches, he has by far the best résumé.

 

I don't see why 80% of these names would go for one of the few worst P5 jobs in the country, especially right now, and especially with Long still in place for some reason

I think it will have to be a younger coach unless an older guy just wants to pad his nest egg before retirement.
 

Why would Lance Leipold take a job like that? There’s too much risk. Fritz and Bohl have both elevated their schools to respectability, and have surely received raises for doing so. 
 

Someone like Major Applewhite? Someone even younger?

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There are a lot of G5 jobs that are better than Kansas. Boise, Cincy, Houston, USF, BYU, UCF for sure.  You are far more likely to reach a NY6 Bowl or even the CFP as a good coach there than you are at Kansas and the money is not worse.  Throw Memphis, Fresno in there as well maybe.  It's just a turrble job and if I were an up and comer at G5 or a hot name in P5 assistant circles there's no way I'd step into that disaster.  

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2 hours ago, Tex Pete said:

I think it will have to be a younger coach unless an older guy just wants to pad his nest egg before retirement.
 

Why would Lance Leipold take a job like that? There’s too much risk. Fritz and Bohl have both elevated their schools to respectability, and have surely received raises for doing so. 
 

Someone like Major Applewhite? Someone even younger?

Do I even have to say it?


 

 

 

8788248E-94FE-4CE5-BC3F-C34C07B0F842.jpeg

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The Jeff long factor is troubling here. If we let him hire someone he’ll fuck it up. Even with a search committee he is not good at the top of a committee. If we fire him and wait until the end of the year to make a hire we will have approximately zero recruits signed by December. Torching our roster. While I 100% disagree with the reporter that said KU is in worse shape than when les got to Lawrence (our roster is far better) firing Les at this moment is going to set us back 2 years and that isn’t good for a program that is reeling. Once again 12 years of losing records (not more than 3 wins) and 15 is now squarely in the crosshairs. If we get to 15 then I’d say momentum is on the side of 20 straight years of losing records.  I don’t know if a non-ncaa hit like this has ever happened or further taken down an entire school but if basketball gets punished KU might seriously go the way of smu at this point and a large part of the downfall of the institution will be because of hiring incompetent athletic directors and coaches. Pretty amazing when you think about it. 

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1 hour ago, Jhawk said:

if basketball gets punished KU might seriously go the way of smu at this point and a large part of the downfall of the institution will be because of hiring incompetent athletic directors and coaches. Pretty amazing when you think about it. 

SMU has become a much better university since they took their focus off athletics.  Perhaps KU should aspire to that?  Or are you happy having a degree from Midwestern Auburn?

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On 3/7/2021 at 9:25 AM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

They had been trying to get rid of Miles for a few years and it had nothing to do with the scandal. I'm too lazy to look at the timeline but it's my understanding that all of his creepy shit that he got reprimanded for happened long before he got fired. If I'm wrong, correct me please. 

The real reason he got fired is because the LSU power brokers got tired of only scoring 9 points against Bama. Les inherited Saban's machine at LSU and he, along with their in state network and their ability to churn out draft picks + Tommy Moffitt, was a good enough recruiter to keep it running. But Les did incomprehensible things on the field like not knowing how game stoppages work, wack decisions on fourth down and just general head scratching shit on a weekly basis. Plus he came off as a punch line. And he never adapted his offense. That's why nobody jumped on this "national title winning coach." We're talking about the SEC here. You think they would fire a coach that they believed could beat Saban because of what he did? 

One thing that is really interesting in all of this is his buyout. Lsu owed him $12. 9 million when they canned him and he settled for $1.5. I guess we know the reason why now. 

I agree with your take, plus I suspect LSU was already clued in something was up with Les physically/cognitively. Remember his KU introductory news conference, when he froze for what seemed like an eternity while attempting to answer a simple question? 

Then there was the scene on the sidelines during what must have been our game with them two years ago (our nail biting win, when Tom Herman sealed the deal for me that his tenure at Texas was irredeemable). I must have watched it on TV the next day, Les being propped up by his assistants, Weekend at Bernie’s style, as they instructed him on what was going on on the field, when to use a time out, etc. Unfortunately, it really seems like something is going with Miles beyond his skirt chasing antics in Baton Rouge.

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The 2004 OK State-Texas game provided me with my absolute favorite Les Miles-ism of all time. it was one of the most incredible cases of stick-your-foot-in-your-mouth in recorded history. I was watching the game at the house with my then- 5 year old and 8 month old sons, and the majority of the first half could not have gone worse for the Horns, and are down 35-7 with barely a minute left in the first half. Vince goes 7-8 for 80 yards to  drive us down to score with 3 seconds left to make it 35-14 at half. They cut to Craig Sager (RIP) to interview ole Leslie and he is strutting his stuff about the first half. Sager cautions him with something to the tune of "Are you worried that Texas has got the momentum with that late score?" ...ever full of piss and vinegar, ole Leslie goes into full anti-coachspeak mode and responds with "That 21 point lead looks pretty good right now...heh heh"...

Ced Benson (RIP) and Vince go on to score another 42 unanswered second half points to win 56-35, which truly was a good looking 21 point lead...I found this video posted of the full game and was so excited to hear "Here's Les Miles with Craig Sager..."   only to have Lucy pull the football away as the audience is deprived of the greatest soundbite ever as the image of Les and Craig gives way to the cursed VHS static of the fast forward button being pushed. Truly sad (Video queued up to the spot)

 

Edited by Dennis Taylor
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1 hour ago, Vito Andolini said:

I agree with your take, plus I suspect LSU was already clued in something was up with Les physically/cognitively. Remember his KU introductory news conference, when he froze for what seemed like an eternity while attempting to answer a simple question? 

Then there was the scene on the sidelines during what must have been our game with them two years ago (our nail biting win, when Tom Herman sealed the deal for me that his tenure at Texas was irredeemable). I must have watched it on TV the next day, Les being propped up by his assistants, Weekend at Bernie’s style, as they instructed him on what was going on on the field, when to use a time out, etc. Unfortunately, it really seems like something is going with Miles beyond his skirt chasing antics in Baton Rouge.

"I just want to thank...the guy who runs that outfit over there."

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That video of the Ok State game made me sad.  I just watched the 2nd half.  That was a different level of athlete we had back then.  And I forgot how amped the crowd was even after going down big.  It's like they knew we weren't going to lose the game.  And the team agreed.  I'd call that 2nd half a smooth butt-fucking, but there wasn't anything smooth about it.  That was a Grade A, belligerent, plunger-rape.

I especially like when we're up 49-35, and Terrell Brown takes an INT to the house, but then it gets call back 40+ yards for an illegal block.  We have it at the 42, and you just know that every OSU fan has a slight glimmer of hope that perhaps that was the break they needed to claw back.  If thye can just make a play on defense, they may be able to score.  Next play Vince breaks a tackle at the LOS and takes it to the house.  Fuck you Cowboys.

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18 minutes ago, bullzak said:

My favorite demonstration of Texas offensive thunder was 2005 leading Kansas 52-0 at half while Vince Young had minus 4 yards rushing. 

Thats a beatdown. 

I like the fact that starting with the run against OK St , thru the Baylor game til we finally let KU come up for air, Texas scored 152 unanswered points in just over 120 minutes of game time. That's fucking astonishing 

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34 minutes ago, bullzak said:

KU is going to have to overpay some 26 year old offensive whiz kid who can maybe scheme them to a couple of wins without killing his own career. They did the retread deal and it didn't work. What a dumpster fire. 

Probably but there’s G5 guys out there that aren’t making P5 money and would give it a shot. KU doesn’t need a proven coach to come in and win the Big12, they need a guy to come in and 3-4 games and be competitive in another 5 games. Baylor’s roster was worse than KU’s when Matt Rhule shows up out of oblivion and in three years wins 11 games. It can happen.

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3 hours ago, Vito Andolini said:

I agree with your take, plus I suspect LSU was already clued in something was up with Les physically/cognitively. Remember his KU introductory news conference, when he froze for what seemed like an eternity while attempting to answer a simple question? 

Then there was the scene on the sidelines during what must have been our game with them two years ago (our nail biting win, when Tom Herman sealed the deal for me that his tenure at Texas was irredeemable). I must have watched it on TV the next day, Les being propped up by his assistants, Weekend at Bernie’s style, as they instructed him on what was going on on the field, when to use a time out, etc. Unfortunately, it really seems like something is going with Miles beyond his skirt chasing antics in Baton Rouge.

I don't know that Les was ever that good in the first place.  How many national champions had two losses?  One of which was to Kentucky??

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I'm not about to read 8 pages of slop about a regarded coach at a school I'm not 100% sure exists. Are there pictures of the coeds that Les tried to bang? Where? If not, lets never speak of any school north of Tarrant County ever again. 

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1 minute ago, JFKFC said:

I'm not about to read 8 pages of slop about a regarded coach at a school I'm not 100% sure exists. Are there pictures of the coeds that Les tried to bang? Where? If not, lets never speak of any school north of Tarrant County ever again. 

Have you seen his wife?

I don't think if we want to see the  co-eds.

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16 hours ago, Teryor said:

It's fascinating seeing the names being thrown out, I don't think most would even consider the position

Most of those MAC guys are making $600-800K.  Les was making $2.8M

3 years at 2.5M = 7.5 Million dollars.  They'd be crazy not to take that.  Throw in a "don't molest the co-eds" clause and you should be able to make it a four year deal.  

And it's not like the expectations are all that high. Don't win many conference games? No big deal, neither did the previous guy or the guy before him...

 

 

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12 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

There are a lot of G5 jobs that are better than Kansas. Boise, Cincy, Houston, USF, BYU, UCF for sure.  You are far more likely to reach a NY6 Bowl or even the CFP as a good coach there than you are at Kansas and the money is not worse.  Throw Memphis, Fresno in there as well maybe.  It's just a turrble job and if I were an up and comer at G5 or a hot name in P5 assistant circles there's no way I'd step into that disaster.  

Agree with most of your post. The only part I'd quibble on is that Notre Dame is the only non-P5 school that will ever sniff the playoffs. 

Course, Kansas won't either, but IF Kansas went undefeated, yeah, they'd be in the playoffs. Won't happen with a G5. They'd put a two loss P5 in before they'd let a G5 crash the party. 

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3 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Dickey had some pretty damn good teams at North Texas.  

He was there right before Dodge, correct?

A guy like him makes sense to me as a fit. Lots of experience and generally respected but P5 teams aren't exactly banging down his door for interviews. If he wants one more chance at a relatively high profile HC job this is probably it. If he fails in a few years he'll just immediately get another staff job. It's not like his career has a rocket ship upward trajectory to protect.  

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I  am starting to think that article about them being better off as an option team has some serious merit. They are now firmly behind KState as far as recruiting talent in state and regional kids would rather go to ISU or Iowa or even Neb than KU. So they need a gimmick and trying to go all pass happy leach wont work in the B12...

 

Maybe option football would work in Lawrence... it’s not like they can get any worse 

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1 hour ago, Laxtonto said:

I  am starting to think that article about them being better off as an option team has some serious merit. They are now firmly behind KState as far as recruiting talent in state and regional kids would rather go to ISU or Iowa or even Neb than KU. So they need a gimmick and trying to go all pass happy leach wont work in the B12...

 

Maybe option football would work in Lawrence... it’s not like they can get any worse 

Damn how the mighty have fallen.

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13 hours ago, Richard Kimball said:

Agree with most of your post. The only part I'd quibble on is that Notre Dame is the only non-P5 school that will ever sniff the playoffs. 

Course, Kansas won't either, but IF Kansas went undefeated, yeah, they'd be in the playoffs. Won't happen with a G5. They'd put a two loss P5 in before they'd let a G5 crash the party. 

Maybe.  I think personally it’s a matter of time before the pressure builds and in some season where you are looking at a 2 loss PAC or ACC team that or an undefeated Cincy or BYU type team that played a good OOC slate, they put the G5 team through. I think it’s more likely than Kansas ever going undefeated. 

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4 hours ago, markstanco said:

After getting rid of a coach for sexual misconduct and bring in another who covered up sexual misconduct....what could possibly go wrong?

They should have hired Briles to cover up Miles' sexual misconduct. 

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