In the wake of Les Miles’ sudden departure from Kansas on Monday night, the Jayhawks clarified two main items: They will hire a coach immediately, and sporting director Jeff Long will be leading the hiring. Miles and KU “mutually agreed” to split on Monday with Miles being criticized on charges of misconduct during his time at LSU.
All the terminology means is that Miles must avoid a public “layoff” and will take home less than the $ 8 million that was owed to him for an unjust cause for separation. If it had been a just cause for dismissal, Miles’s lawyer could have already filed a lawsuit.
Forget the idea of an interim coach guiding the Jayhawks throughout the 2021 season. This time, Long will use a search firm and start working immediately. He will have many qualified candidates considering that it is still March. Here are the top six who may be in line to replace Miles in Kansas.
1. Lance Leipold, Buffalo coach: Leipold is known to have a significant interest in Kansas after six seasons in Buffalo (37-33). While there may be better ways to jump to the Power Five, he won at a distant MAC outpost and has ties to the Midwest. Leipold won six Division III national championships and the Bulls advanced to two of the last three MAC Championship games.
2. Jeff Monken, Army trainer: Monken apparently ended up as runner-up for the Illinois job that went to Bret Bielema. Clearly, he plans to rise after eight seasons in the Army. Only one other Army coach has won more than Monken’s 49 games since Red Blaik left in 1958. If Kansas is looking for an efficient and narrow program, they will do it with Monken. The Black Knights finished in the top 17 with the fewest penalties in seven of Monken’s eight seasons. Don’t worry about the ground-based option attack in the Army. Monken can adjust. He will have to do this on Big 12.
3. Willie Fritz, Tulane’s coach: This could be the third time (or is it the fourth?) That Fritz’s name was mentioned for a Kansas debut. He coached football at school (as an assistant) 30 miles away in Overland Park, Kansas. Fritz played at neighboring Pittsburg State and trained for 13 seasons in Division II Central Missouri. The Green Wave went to three straight cups under Fritz (29-33).
4. Kevin Kane, Illinois associate coach / coach for external linebackers: Probably a long shot, but Kane has experience as a coordinator at SMU and Northern Illinois. In 2019, his SMU defense led the country in bags per match (3.92). Kane played a linebacker in Kansas, later became an assistant student to Mark Mangino and was the Jayhawks’ linebacker coach under David Beaty in 2015.
5. Sean Lewis, Kent State coach: Lewis is a rising offensive training star. Golden Flashes led FBS in the score (49.8 points in four games). If Long wants to examine Lewis, it is best to call Bret Bielema, the coach he fired in Arkansas. Lewis played tight end under Bielema in Wisconsin in 2006-07. Bielema loves the guy.
6. Bill Clark, UAB coach: Perhaps no coach has done more with less. Clark is turning the corner with the Blazers while UAB is opening a new stadium this fall. Still, a Power Five job is a Power Five job, and Kansas invested money and resources in the program while Miles was there. Clark is 51-26 (26-10 Conference USA) with UAB and resurrected the program almost from scratch after it unceremoniously ended by the university before 2015.
7. Dan Lanning, Georgia’s defensive coordinator: A rising star who worked for Kirby Smart, Nick Saban and Mike Norvell. Texas and the State of Florida reportedly accepted that Lanning was their DC for the past two seasons. Lanning knows the territory as a native of Kansas City. He recruited jokes from Kansas while in the state of Arizona under Todd Graham.