Here Are Five G5 Schools Les Miles Should Consider

After almost firing Les Miles at the conclusion of last year, LSU finally pulled the trigger and ended the Miles era on the Bayou Sunday evening after his team got off to a disappointing 2-2 start to the season.

In 12 years as LSU’s head coach Les Miles went 114-34 with two SEC Championships and a National Championship. His worst season in Baton Rouge was 8-5.

There’s a ton of speculation as to who LSU will replace the Mad Hatter with but what about Miles himself?

On the Dan Patrick Morning Show Miles made it clear that he can’t envision a life without being a head coach and that he plans to coach again. With a winning percentage of .770 as LSU’s head coach you won’t find many fan bases complaining that they hired Les Miles but at age 62 Miles may not get a top flight P5 job or any P5 jobs.

After dominating as Goliath for so long, we encourage the Mad Hatter to take the underdog route and take his talents to the G5. Here are five G5 schools Les Miles should definitely consider in the next coaching carousel.

1. FIU: The Panthers were the first FBS team to fire their head coach so they have a head start to court Miles’ interest. The complaints surrounding the end of Les Miles’ tenure have never centered on the lack of talent and the amount of talent Miles would bring to FIU would potentially be staggering compared to Conference USA teams.

The expectations at FIU are low but the potential for FIU is still sky high. Should Miles still want the potential of achieving conference championships without pressure, FIU would be the way to go. Plus there’s precedent of an established head coach getting up there in age and working out in South Florida as Howard Schnellenberger did just fine at FAU, adding on to his already Hall of Fame legacy towards the end of his career.

2. Memphis: Memphis just hired Mike Norvell and the Tigers have been running teams off the field so I doubt this would be an option for Les Miles but we can all dream, right? There would be so many storylines here as Miles would still be in SEC territory trying to keep all the Memphis kids from going to SEC powerhouses. Memphis is still scheduled to play Ole Miss at least one more time so Miles could take a swipe at an SEC foe as a fun plus. Memphis would be a major factor in the American Athletic Conference with Miles running the show. It’s another high ceiling job without much pressure.

3. UNLV: UNLV football hasn’t exactly taken off with former high school coach Tony Sanchez running the show. The Rebels are 1-3 in his second season after finishing 3-9 last year. Perhaps UNLV wants to make a splash and bring in a big name. Watching Miles coach in the City of Sin would be a blast and he should be able to create recruiting inroads at talent-rich local high school Bishop Gorman. UNLV has always been a program that has done less with more and with Miles in Vegas he could be the best coach in school history. Like FIU and Memphis, this would be another legacy job and one that would be jackpot (sorry) for both parties.

4. Houston: Trade! LSU gets Tom Herman, Houston gets Les Miles. Unlike the other three choices, this isn’t too far fetched. Herman is going to be one of the first names LSU will call to gauge interest in and should he leave, Les should definitely pursue this job. The money is there, the talent is there, and Les would still have an opportunity to compete at a high level without the pressure cooker that the LSU job offered. This would be a great landing spot for Les and one I’ll be rooting for should Herman leaves Houston for another position.

5. Miami (OH): The cradle of coaches will be able to add one more name to the list should native Ohioan Les Miles decide to coach the RedHawks. Like Houston, this could potentially have some legs as Miami has really struggled under Chuck Martin and are winless so far this year in his third season. Unlike Houston, this would be a massive rebuild and Miles would be extremely out of college football’s conscious. Frank Solich went from Nebraska to Ohio so maybe Les takes the same approach.