June 17, 2024 • 5 mins
Matt Thomas and Ross Villarreal of The Matt Thomas Show react to former LSU coach Les Miles suing the school for vacating wins in response to NCAA infractions, arguing that the loss of those victories makes him ineligible for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Miles served as the head coach at LSU from 2005-2016. In 2023, LSU vacated 37 wins from 2012-2015 after recruiting violations that involved alleged payments to the father of offensive lineman Vadal Alexander. With LSU self-imposing the penalty of the vacated wins, Miles' overall record as head coach changed from 145-73 to 108-73, reducing his winning percentage to .597 which is below the .600 threshold required for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So Less Miles wants to get intothe college Football Hall of Fame. Okay,
which I've been to the College FootballHall of Fame in Atlanta, Okay,
it's okay. Is less Miles oneof the greatest college football coaches of
all time? If you were toput if you were to close your eyes,
okay and say, name me thegreatest college football coaches of all time,
(00:22):
how long would it take before yougot to the name Less Miles?
Very long life. I mean itwould probably take you, using your vernacular,
a third bottle of wine. Okay, I mean, yeah, I
don't think he's one of the greatestcoaches of all time. So apparently if
(00:42):
you want to get into the collegeFootball Hall of Fame, you have to
have a six hundred winning percentage,okay, which feels weird to begin with.
That is weird to make a threshold. What if you coach for like
fifty years and you didn't hit that, but you got a bunch of a
million wins and maybe a couple championships, but I got one for it.
Let's say you go coach at aschool for ten years and you went a
buttload of games and then you said, you know what, I'm done with
the coaching. I'm gonna go trysomething different, but go to a smaller
(01:03):
program, build it from scratch.Was there a scandal when he left Kansas
too? Or no? I thinkhe leaves scandals wherever he goes. Okay,
So LSU had to vacate some wins. He called me shocked on that
thirty seven of them. Wow.So he is suing the National Football Foundation,
(01:27):
which manages the college football fame.He is he is suing them in
response to an intimate in fractions casethat dropped Miles from below the threshold in
the College Football Hall of Fame qualificationrecruiting violations stemming from impermissible benefits paid to
the father of former player Vidal Alexanderby a former booster. This is in
twenty twenty three. The wins coincidedwith Alexander's playing career from twenty twelve to
(01:52):
twenty fifteen. During that time,the LSU Tigers went thirty seven and twelve.
The seven vacated wins drops miles overallrecord from one forty five and seventy
three to one oh eight and seventythree, which is a winning percentage of
point five ninety seven. It waspoint sixty sixty five. Coaches must have
(02:13):
a career winning percentage of six hundredand at least one hundred games to qualify
for selection to the College Football Hallof Fame. Well, you know what,
you probably shouldn't have done, takethe Kansas job. While at Kansas,
Miles was placed on administrative leave onMarch fifth, twenty twenty one,
due to an investigation of inappropriate conductwith female students while at LSU. Do
(02:37):
you want that in the College FootballHall of Fame. A July twenty twenty
one article in the Kansas City Staralleged that win a football player alleged threats
and harassment from other teammates, thefootball program paid the player to leave campus
and take classes online. Also allegisMiles suggested the players settle their dispute quote
on the practice field, pitting themagainst each other head on in full contact
(02:59):
drills. Sounds like a Hall ofFame coach to me. So what are
they gonna suit to get his back? Victory is back. In twenty thirteen,
Sports Illustrated published a series of articlesas part of the investigation of miles
tenure at Oklahoma State. At allegedhe Oklahoma State used a bonus system for
players, orchestrated by then assistant coachJoe deah Forrest, with direct payments along
(03:24):
with direct payments and no show orsham jobs involving boosters. So less as
a crook, Miles was accused ofdismissing academic standards to the point of players
playing who were otherwise academically ineligible.Sounds like great college football Hall of Fame
qualifications to me. Rumors also ledto the staff can you stop or he's
(03:45):
just going to ask me? Andnever ending widespread drug abuse among the players
by using a sham drug counseling programin selective drug enforcement. Come on,
LSU fan, where are you attoday? Let's go how I work with
half of the LSU alumni fan basein his building. In twenty thirteen,
LSU requested the law firm Taylor Porterconducting investigation in a Miles relationships with female
(04:11):
students after a number of accusations anumber of them. Investigation determined his behavior
was inappropriate, although it did notfind he had sexual relationships with any of
the women. Okay, Less,I would go away and not fight this
because why do you want I'll behonest with you, Ross, I had
(04:32):
no idea about all these things,or if I did, I'd quickly forgotten
about that. He was why wouldyou bring these back up again? He
was kind of a I mean he'sover there eating grass and making bad decisions.
I mean he was able to gettalent in at LSU, which basically
every coach could do. Ed Ozieron kind of the same thing. You
(04:53):
get some good players and you winsome football games, miss LSU. I
mean, the academic standers are nothigh, if they even have any.
The fertile recruiting ground fertile and adjacentto Texas, which is a fertile recruiting
ground. Yeah, I mean,come on, not far from Florida either.
Is his life not fulfilled by gettinginto the College Football Hall of Fame
(05:16):
seventy? So is there more?No? No, no. I was
trying to read his record, butthere's an asterisk because of all the vacated
wins. So I would say less. If you wanted this exposure to get
yourself back in the College Football Hallof Fame conversation, I wouldn't ask for
it. I would just say,you know what, I walk them and
say never mind, just move on, Just take the millions upon millions upon
(05:41):
millions that you made in your coach, And so what if you don't go
to college Hall of Fame. Weknow who you are. You were a
good football coach that cheated like eightypercent of your brethren. That's fine.
So Less Miles wants to get intothe college Football Hall of Fame. Okay,
which I've been to the College FootballHall of Fame in Atlanta, Okay,
it's okay. Is less Miles oneof the greatest college football coaches of
all time? If you were toput if you were to close your eyes,
okay and say, name me thegreatest college football coaches of all time,
(00:22):
how long would it take before yougot to the name Less Miles?
Very long life. I mean itwould probably take you, using your vernacular,
a third bottle of wine. Okay, I mean, yeah, I
don't think he's one of the greatestcoaches of all time. So apparently if
(00:42):
you want to get into the collegeFootball Hall of Fame, you have to
have a six hundred winning percentage,okay, which feels weird to begin with.
That is weird to make a threshold. What if you coach for like
fifty years and you didn't hit that, but you got a bunch of a
million wins and maybe a couple championships, but I got one for it.
Let's say you go coach at aschool for ten years and you went a
buttload of games and then you said, you know what, I'm done with
the coaching. I'm gonna go trysomething different, but go to a smaller
(01:03):
program, build it from scratch.Was there a scandal when he left Kansas
too? Or no? I thinkhe leaves scandals wherever he goes. Okay,
So LSU had to vacate some wins. He called me shocked on that
thirty seven of them. Wow.So he is suing the National Football Foundation,
(01:27):
which manages the college football fame.He is he is suing them in
response to an intimate in fractions casethat dropped Miles from below the threshold in
the College Football Hall of Fame qualificationrecruiting violations stemming from impermissible benefits paid to
the father of former player Vidal Alexanderby a former booster. This is in
twenty twenty three. The wins coincidedwith Alexander's playing career from twenty twelve to
(01:52):
twenty fifteen. During that time,the LSU Tigers went thirty seven and twelve.
The seven vacated wins drops miles overallrecord from one forty five and seventy
three to one oh eight and seventythree, which is a winning percentage of
point five ninety seven. It waspoint sixty sixty five. Coaches must have
(02:13):
a career winning percentage of six hundredand at least one hundred games to qualify
for selection to the College Football Hallof Fame. Well, you know what,
you probably shouldn't have done, takethe Kansas job. While at Kansas,
Miles was placed on administrative leave onMarch fifth, twenty twenty one,
due to an investigation of inappropriate conductwith female students while at LSU. Do
(02:37):
you want that in the College FootballHall of Fame. A July twenty twenty
one article in the Kansas City Staralleged that win a football player alleged threats
and harassment from other teammates, thefootball program paid the player to leave campus
and take classes online. Also allegisMiles suggested the players settle their dispute quote
on the practice field, pitting themagainst each other head on in full contact
(02:59):
drills. Sounds like a Hall ofFame coach to me. So what are
they gonna suit to get his back? Victory is back. In twenty thirteen,
Sports Illustrated published a series of articlesas part of the investigation of miles
tenure at Oklahoma State. At allegedhe Oklahoma State used a bonus system for
players, orchestrated by then assistant coachJoe deah Forrest, with direct payments along
(03:24):
with direct payments and no show orsham jobs involving boosters. So less as
a crook, Miles was accused ofdismissing academic standards to the point of players
playing who were otherwise academically ineligible.Sounds like great college football Hall of Fame
qualifications to me. Rumors also ledto the staff can you stop or he's
(03:45):
just going to ask me? Andnever ending widespread drug abuse among the players
by using a sham drug counseling programin selective drug enforcement. Come on,
LSU fan, where are you attoday? Let's go how I work with
half of the LSU alumni fan basein his building. In twenty thirteen,
LSU requested the law firm Taylor Porterconducting investigation in a Miles relationships with female
(04:11):
students after a number of accusations anumber of them. Investigation determined his behavior
was inappropriate, although it did notfind he had sexual relationships with any of
the women. Okay, Less,I would go away and not fight this
because why do you want I'll behonest with you, Ross, I had
(04:32):
no idea about all these things,or if I did, I'd quickly forgotten
about that. He was why wouldyou bring these back up again? He
was kind of a I mean he'sover there eating grass and making bad decisions.
I mean he was able to gettalent in at LSU, which basically
every coach could do. Ed Ozieron kind of the same thing. You
(04:53):
get some good players and you winsome football games, miss LSU. I
mean, the academic standers are nothigh, if they even have any.
The fertile recruiting ground fertile and adjacentto Texas, which is a fertile recruiting
ground. Yeah, I mean,come on, not far from Florida either.
Is his life not fulfilled by gettinginto the College Football Hall of Fame
(05:16):
seventy? So is there more?No? No, no. I was
trying to read his record, butthere's an asterisk because of all the vacated
wins. So I would say less. If you wanted this exposure to get
yourself back in the College Football Hallof Fame conversation, I wouldn't ask for
it. I would just say,you know what, I walk them and
say never mind, just move on, Just take the millions upon millions upon
(05:41):
millions that you made in your coach, And so what if you don't go
to college Hall of Fame. Weknow who you are. You were a
good football coach that cheated like eightypercent of your brethren. That's fine.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.