Monday Notebook – Jayhawks land Les Miles as next football coach

1. Les Miles is the Head Coach of Kansas Football

Is this the real life? Or is it just fantasy? Bohemian Rhapsody is more realistic than what is happening with the KU football program right now. Les Miles, the 2007 national championship-winning coach, was officially introduced as the next head football coach at Kansas. I, for one, am thrilled.

For the first time since the Mangino era, Kansas has a proven winner coaching their team. I know people are afraid that Miles is going to be a Charlie Weis clone, but I find those fears unfounded. Weis was never a proven winner anywhere, and he came to Kansas having left the Florida Gators in shambles.

Les Miles has gone to a bowl game every full year of his head coaching career, except for his first at Oklahoma State. This is a slam dunk hire. I don’t necessarily expect Les to make KU a bowl team in year one, but I expect him to make the team look better in all facets of the game. That doesn’t seem like to much to ask, as that is literally his job. It will be intriguing to see what his first recruiting class ends up looking like. Here’s to the Les Miles experience! May it bring us joy!

2. Kansas Basketball Struggles in 89-76 Win

Not a pretty win from the Jayhawks on Friday. The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns gave KU all they could handle for well over a half, leading by as many as 12 at one point. You have to tip your cap to Justin Miller of Louisiana, who dropped 22 points in the first half. Thankfully, Kansas had someone who lit up the score sheet as well. Lagerald Vick went for 33 points, going 7-12 from three and collecting nine rebounds. Vick had a spectacular week of basketball, hitting 15 threes in two games for a total of 65 points. Hopefully he can stay more consistent this season.

Dedric Lawson bounced back, scoring 19 points to go with six rebounds. Lawson still hasn’t played anything better than a B+ game on offense, but he looked much more comfortable in this game. Udoka Azubuike played his third nice game in a row, going for 17 points, eight boards, and four blocks. He has been fantastic on both ends of the floor thus far.

Hopefully Quentin Grimes and Devon Dotson continue to come along. They each recorded three assists, while Grimes scored six points to Dotson’s four. These guys, obviously, still have some growing to do but it would be encouraging for them to play much better against Marquette on Wednesday.