Les Miles
Followed David Beaty. Les Miles held Kansas at Regional Program IV for 2 seasons.
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Blue Blood in his 5th career season — faster than 35% of the 100 FBS coaches who have ever reached Blue Blood (rank #58 of 100 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
30–23 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Mack Brown.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
21st-best Kansas tenure of 21 by the numbers.
Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed David Beaty (2015–2018) · succeeded by Lance Leipold (2021–2026).
| Season | 2019 | 2020 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||
| Record | 3–9 | 0–9 | |
| Postseason | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #70 | #57 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||
| Pass rate | 50.4 | 44.4 | |
| Coordinators | |||
| OC | Brent Dearmon | Brent Dearmon | |
| DC | D. J. Eliot | D. J. Eliot | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||
| Offense | 38 | 0 | |
| Defense | 9 | 22 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||
| 1st-down pass% | 42.0 | 41.2 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 42.3 | 61.1 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 25.0 | 42.9 | |
1 NFL Draft pick: Hakeem Adeniji (2020)
1st-best LSU tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Nick Saban (2000–2004).
| Season | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||
| Record | 11–2 | 11–2 | 12–2 | 8–5 | 9–4 | 11–2 | 13–1 | 10–3 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 9–3 | 6–2 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | L bowl | W bowl | W CFP | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | #2 | #5 | #2 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||||||||
| Pass rate | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 30.8 | 35.5 | 39.4 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||||||||
| OC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Cam Cameron | Cam Cameron | Cam Cameron | |
| DC | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | John Chavis | Kevin Steele | Dave Aranda | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 50 | 89 | 80 | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 91 | 71 | 93 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25.2 | 29.9 | 36.0 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 31.4 | 30.5 | 26.9 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 26.5 | 6.7 | 15.4 | |
80 NFL Draft picks: Marcus Spears (2005), Corey Webster (2005), Travis Daniels (2005), Joseph Addai (2006), Andrew Whitworth (2006), Claude Wroten (2006), Skyler Green (2006), Kyle Williams (2006) + 72 more
9th-best Oklahoma State tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Bob Simmons (1995–2000) · succeeded by Mike Gundy (2005–2025).
7 NFL Draft picks: Kevin Williams (2003), Rashaun Woods (2004), Tatum Bell (2004), Antonio Smith (2004), Darrent Williams (2005), Vernand Morency (2005), Billy Bajema (2005)