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The Miles have changed their wardrobe this week. Perhaps this is the best way to know that he is ready for the next stage of his life.
For years, he had problems with the color red. When he was with Michigan earlier in his career, it reminded him of his rival Ohio State, and then at LSU, that meant Alabama, who had beaten him five times in a row at the end of his tenure there.
He was known to point out to reporters at press conferences when they wore red: "Hey man, you know I do not like that color."
It was therefore an important step. Miles, 65, when he was named Kansas football coach Sunday afternoon, emerged from a side door wearing a mostly red tie matching the color of his new school.
"Some things," he said with a smile, "you must learn to do with the new job."
It was the first of many adjustments for Miles as he took up the challenge of KU football, which has not had a winning season since 2008.
After a two-week search after David Beaty learned that he would not be coming back for a fifth season, KU Sports Director Jeff Long officially announced on Sunday that his movement was well presented, presenting Miles to the 40th head coach of the school.
The reasons why Miles made sense for KU do not have much of a secret. In the two previous home games of the team this year, it has barely attracted 15,000 spectators. According to Long, the program also has dire fundraising needs. It takes eight to 15 additional football staff just to get to a place where it can be located in the middle of the road in the Big 12.
The Jayhawks' situation also requires a quick fix on the recruiting track, with the team only holding one commitment for next year's class, while the worst conference team has eight.
Miles, with his larger-than-life personality and national credibility, seems to be giving the KU immediate help to address each of these shortcomings.
"I think people are going to look at us differently in the world of football now," said Long.
Another more important question, however, is the other side of the equation: what interests Miles to give up on retirement for KU?
The money should be nice, of course. Miles has been awarded a five-year contract from KU, which will earn him $ 2,775,000 a year – an increase of approximately $ 1 million a year in Beaty's salary, but remains the lowest of the 12 largest – as well as additional maintenance bonuses in 2020 ($ 775,000) and 2022 ($ 450,000).
But that had to be more than that. Earlier this week, Miles had settled $ 1.5 million in a previous buyout from LSU, while he could have stayed unemployed and received $ 5 million more.
He also said Sunday that other possibilities were available to him. Colorado and Maryland both have open coaching positions and may have sparked their interest, while Miles has also expanded his offerings to pursue his post-football career.
In the end, however, his mind always returned to a thought.
"What I've always learned to do, is to be a football coach," Miles said. "So it's impossible for me not to quench that thirst."
In recent days, he realized that KU was the job he had to take on.
He was familiar with the program since its early 2000s in the state of Oklahoma. He loved the green campus of the KU and silently wondered why the football team could not be more successful.
When his close friend, Long, took over the position of KU Sports Director this summer (the two men had already worked together in Michigan), Miles looked even harder. The two men had a long interview and chatted on the phone several times thereafter. Out of respect, there were moments in the last week. Long told Miles that he was interviewing another candidate.
"Hey, I'm here," Miles replied on a text message.
Miles said about four days ago that he was starting to feel that his way and Long are going to take them to the same place. This was concluded by an agreement signed Friday, which was later publicly revealed Sunday.
It started a lightning day. Miles, after seeing his son Manny play for North Carolina on Saturday, went Sunday to Forbes Field in Topeka, where he was taken away by KU representatives in a black SUV. Subsequently, Miles briefly introduced himself to the current football team at the KU Football Complex – the team's final and Beaty is at home against Texas on Friday – when a wave of emotions hit; Miles could just feel the energy of still being around the university athletes.
"It was a wonderful day for me," Miles said. "I enjoyed it a lot."
There will be more questions to answer from here. Will Miles modify his attack to adopt a more modern style? And how far will it recruit at the local and national levels?
The answers should be clearer in the coming weeks. For the time being, Miles is still in the treatment stage, pondering the immediate details of his family's move to Lawrence and the likely transfer of his two sons to KU (Manny would be a graduate transfer, while Ben would a first-year freshman backback at Texas A & M).
"I'm excited as I can be," Miles said.
All of this played a role in his Sunday fashion choice.
Over the years, Miles has been collecting an increasing number of red ties while realizing that he could never wear them. Three days ago, he put one of these links, just to try it; he quickly realized that everything was fine.
This one – with thin blue stripes – ended up being the same one that he presented at his introductory press conference on Sunday.
An appropriate start for his last adventure.
"I have a lot of pretty red ties at the back of the closet," he says, "which I put forward."
Jesse Newell
Jesse Newell covers the sports of the University of Kansas for The Star.
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