🎙 The Jayhawker Podcast | Les Miles

Episode 19: Les Miles | May 14, 2020
Les Miles needs no introduction to college football fans. He’s “The Hat”: The grass-chewing, national championship-winning coach who has endeared himself to fans across the country. Fans come naturally when you’ve had success everywhere you’ve been. Great players follow too, especially when you cultivate a culture of “family” in your program. For Miles, the focus of family has been a priority ever since his childhood days in Elyria, Ohio. This week on “The Jayhawker” we explore how Miles’ relationship with his father, Bubba Miles and mentor Bo Schembechler, helped shape him into one of college football’s most successful head coaches. In different ways, both instilled in him an emphasis on “family” and “team” – a mindset that emphasizes a collective “we” mentality, rather than any mention of “me.”

Miles shares how a player’s commitment to his program is the beginning of a lifelong relationship – a permanent membership in his ever-growing football family. It’s that culture that helped him turn around the Oklahoma State football program in the early 2000’s, becoming the Big 12 Coach of the Year. It’s that same mindset that propelled him to average 10 wins per season in his 11+ years at LSU including the 2007 national championship. Finally, it’s the bond he shares with his players and joy he takes from pursuing victory with his football family that pulled him back into coaching in the fall of 2018.

Hear more on what family means to this college football coaching legend and why Kansas was the perfect place add to his legacy and build that family-first culture once more.