Former LSU head coach [autotag]Les Miles[/autotag] is back in the news as he’s suing the university over 37 wins vacated during his tenure from 2012-15. Those wins became significant as without them, Miles is just shy of the 60% required win percentage threshold to make the College Football Hall of Fame.
We’ll see if Miles’ lawsuit is ultimately fruitful, but it does beg the larger question: Is Miles even Hall of Fame material to begin with?
ESPN analyst and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy — who played against Miles — doesn’t think so. While he said he doesn’t agree with vacating wins on his “Always College Football” podcast, he also said Miles doesn’t meet the Hall’s standards, in his opinion.
“In this particular case, it’s kind of interesting,” McElroy said, per On3. “I’ve never thought about the Hall of Fame. Never thought about how vacating wins would potentially impact somebody who would be in the Hall of Fame.”
“In this particular case, having played against Les Miles, and having played against the teams that he was coaching against? I have a tremendous amount of respect for the amount of intensity that his teams played with. He obviously did a great job recruiting, did a great job of making sure his teams were physical, tough, and not a team that you ever wanted to play against. When I think about, like, the best of all time, when I think Hall of Fame? I think best of all time – personal opinion. Best coaches of all time and I’ve never thought of Les Miles as one of the best of all time – personal opinion. I know records and things like that would indicate otherwise.”
McElroy even said he thinks the required win percentage should be higher than 60%.
“I personally believe, when we think about the Hall of Fame, why is the threshold at 60% for a Hall of Fame coach?” McElroy asked. “Shouldn’t it be like 75% or 80% perhaps? I don’t know. What’s a going rate for a Hall of Fame coach, an all-time great? Winning a national championship – that would have you in the mix. Is the threshold really just 60%? That, to me, seems outrageously low.
“I would maybe advise the Hall of Fame to increase that threshold because I don’t just want every run of the mill coach that went 7-5 – if you go 7-5 in your whole career, you’re on the fringe of Hall of Fame-status. That, to me, is not good enough. I know you’ve got to win x-amount of games too – 100 wins or whatever it is but goodness gracious.”
If Miles’ lawsuit is unsuccessful, this discussion won’t matter unless he’s able to secure a special exemption. But even if he can have the wins successfully restored to his record and gain eligibility, there’s still the matter of him being voted in.
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