Kansas football is miles away from success

Life is rough being a Kansas football fan. In the last five years, the Jayhawks have won nine total football games. But poor performance on the field is only part of the torture myself and many other fans are subject to. With each new head coach hire, KU fans are falsely given hope and made to think that “this year is our year”. However, time and time again we are let down.

Following Mark Mangino’s firing after the 2009 season, the somewhat bright future of Jayhawk football was snuffed out. Just two years earlier, Kansas went 12-1 and were national title contenders with an Orange Bowl victory. 11 seasons and four head coaches later, Kansas has yet to even catch a glimpse of post season success.

Moving on to 2018, former LSU coach Les Miles was hired as Kansas’s new head football coach. This hire excited all KU fans and gave them hope for the future. 

I watched Miles’s first game as head coach against Indiana State, and I was completely convinced that Miles was the right guy for the job. With a 24-17 victory, KU football seemed exciting for the first time in many years. The Jayhawks once again impressed with a big win against Boston College in Week 3. The Jayhawks would go on a 1-8 run and finish the 2019 season with three wins and nine losses.

Going into the 2020 season, I had high expectations for the team because it seemed like the team was going in the right direction. I would once again be wrong. The team went through 3 quarterbacks, their star running back leaving the team, and many COVID-19 related issues. They ended up not winning a single game, with a final record of 0-9. Little did the fans know, Kansas’s 13-16 loss to Texas Tech would be the last game that Les Miles would coach at Kansas.

The 2020 offseason has been eventful to say the least. Offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon left for Middle Tennessee to become their head coach. Many players transferred, and some recruits even decommitted to Kansas. Most of all, the Les Miles scandal was spread across national headlines. During his time at LSU, Miles was accused of inappropriate behavior surrounding female assistants of the football program. This problem was dealt without much national attention and many did not know about it. However, he was not fired immediately for his actions. Fast forward to 2018, and Miles is hired at Kansas by his long time friend, former Kansas Athletic Director, Jeff Long. As news broke of Miles’s treatment of women in March 2021, people began to call for Miles to be fired. Long would announce Miles’s firing on March 8, and Long would be “relieved of his duties” just two days later.

As a Kansas football fan, I can confidently say that I have little hope for the future. However, with new interim coach Emmett Jones and a new athletic director, I hope that Kansas can get their football program back onto its feet.