Hidden somewhere in your past, there may or may not be a person filed under The One That Got Away. Maybe you were into them when they weren’t into you, and then years later they were into you when you were attached to someone else. Perhaps you were both into each other at the same time but prior commitments kept you apart.
For Les Miles, The One That Got Away is not a person, but a job.
The Ohio native played and coached at Michigan under Bo Schembechler. As as an offensive tackle from 1974-75, Miles helped the ’74 Wolverines to a 10-1 record, a share of the Big Ten title and a No. 3 final AP ranking. After his playing career completed, Miles jumped into coaching as a graduate assistant for the Wolverines, where in 1980 he aided Schembechler’s crew to a 10-2 record, an outright Big Ten championship, a Rose Bowl victory and a No. 4 final ranking.
That success spurned Miles to his first full-time coaching job, as Colorado’s offensive line coach from 1982-86, when then allowed him to return to coach Michigan’s offensive line, first under Schembechler and then Gary Moeller. From 1987-94 Miles helped Michigan win at least a share of five straight Big Ten crowns from 1988-92.
After the ’94 campaign it was off to Oklahoma State to serve as offensive coordinator, a move Miles surely thought was his final step to becoming Michigan’s head coach.
Now, of course, Miles is 65 years old, Jim Harbaugh is firmly entrenched as Michigan’s head coach, and he’s at Kansas wondering how he wound up in Kansas.
“I love Michigan,” Miles in an interview with a Detroit News podcast. “We just didn’t have the opportunity. It does break my heart. I love the place. There were things I was fortunate to accomplish that I only give credit to Michigan for the experiences I had that allowed me to do some of things I did. I thank the time I was there and how much I enjoyed being around the Michigan players and Coach (Bo) Schembechler.
“It didn’t work out and I’m sad that it didn’t.”
Miles obviously came closest in 2007, when his LSU team was in contention for the national championship and Lloyd Carr was on his way out after 13 seasons as head coach. As Miles prepared to coach LSU in the SEC Championship opposite Tennessee, Kirk Herbstreit reported Miles had accepted the Michigan job. That led to a vintage Miles press conference.
As we now know, LSU would beat Tennessee in that SEC title game and chaos elsewhere would send the Tigers rocketing from No. 7 to No. 2 in the BCS standings, putting them into a title game against Ohio State, which they would later win.
A victim of that chaos was West Virginia and its head coach, Rich Rodriguez, who was announced as Michigan’s new head coach 15 days after that press conference.
However, Miles says now he was never really that close to becoming Michigan’s coach at this time. Rumors at the time said Carr threw his weight around Ann Arbor to prevent Miles from taking the job, and Miles either believes those rumors or outright confirms them with the Detroit News.
“I don’t know that I was ever really close (to getting the job),” he said. “I was fortunate to be at a decent place. It didn’t work out and I’m sad that it didn’t.
“It did not have to do with the amount of money, it had to do with the decisions that would be made on behalf of Michigan if in fact I would be the head football coach. I just needed some backing and some strength. It was probably too far away. It’s certainly a place I loved. Sometimes it’s just not in the cards.”
