Les Miles and Ole Miss Football: Some say no, but I say go, Les, go

Les is a proven option

114. That’s the number of games that Les Miles won at LSU before he was fired in 2016. He coached in 148 games. That’s a wining percentage of .770.

And he did all that in what was the toughest division in football at the time. Miles coached in the SEC West at its peak. Between 2006 and 2012 the SEC won seven consecutive national titles. That included three by Alabama, one by Auburn and one by Miles himself.

Sidebar: how many coaches could Ole Miss hire tomorrow that have National Champion written on their resume. Zero. None. Nada. Take the hint Rebels, this is your guy. Now, back to the SEC as a whole.

There may not have been a more difficult division to win in the history of college football. Dan Mullen, Bobby Petrino and Saban. Those are high-caliber coaches and Miles proved that he can hang with the best.

The current iteration of the SEC West is not nearly as competitive as it was during Miles’ hayday. Every single school in the entire conference finished with four or more losses last season, excluding of course, Alabama. It’s an anecdote that’s been overused, but it’s worth pointing out. The SEC was truly that dominant as recently as five years ago, and Miles was able to weather the storm and come out the other side with a National Title in 2007.

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National Champions don’t grow on trees. Ole Miss is in need of a winner right now. Someone that can convince a shattered program that it can be better. That takes confidence, charisma proven recruiting and a bit of luck. I’d trust no one else other than the Mad Hatter himself to roll the dice. Who knows. It just might work.