Miles reworking culture at Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The main meeting room at Kansas football’s Anderson Family Complex has a new addition: phrases painted in white on the gray wall in front.
Prepare to take the field with confidence and swagger.
Why not now? This practice, this week, this game, this season.
We are the most physical team on the field.
Phrases like these — there are about 20 in all — were created by members of KU football’s leadership council, then put in a location where teammates would see them often.
Ten months into Les Miles’ coaching tenure at KU, these mantras might be the most visible example of the new coach’s efforts to build team chemistry.
“I think you’ll enjoy the culture that this group wants to adopt,” Miles said Thursday. “They don’t want to be just a football team; they want to be a dominant football team. They don’t want to be just a player; they want to be a dominant player.”
This hasn’t been the only shift from a year ago, as players said there’s also been a different vibe around the facility with the new staff taking over.
Offensive lineman Api Mane says he can sense a difference whenever he walks into the facility.
“I just see smiles everywhere,” Mane said. “I’m a big positive guy, and I see that from the coaches as well. That’s what I like.”
Mane is quick to point out that he’s not trying to criticize the previous coaching staff, which also had its share of good influences. It’s just that this group seems to be helping players come together — with Mane citing an example that KU’s offensive linemen, on their own, got together in the summer for impromptu poolside cookouts.
“I see everybody just encouraging, cracking jokes and just having a great time, no matter what we’re doing, whether it’s an off day at dinner or coming in for camp,” Mane said. “We’ve just got to make the best of it.”
Linebacker Kyron Johnson also says there’s more togetherness in the weight room. With strength and conditioning coach Zac Woodfin bringing in additional staff this season, there’s been more of an emphasis on the “we” aspect of training.
“They’ll say stuff like, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do this. Let’s do this.’ And they’ll even go through the drills with us and do it with us,” Johnson said of the strength coaches. “It’s like a reoccurring energy that never goes away.”
Defensive lineman Sam Burt believes a focus on discipline also has been effective in bringing teammates together.
One example: At the end of each practice, Miles has players run “Perfect 40s” — 40-yard dashes meant to stress extreme focus.
With coaches watching, KU’s players must not make any mistakes; each hand must be behind the line, and no player can jump offsides before the whistle is blown.
If either happens? The whole group has to run the sprint again until all do it correctly.
This relates back to a slogan that’s repeated often in the program, and especially by Miles: “We do hard things, but we do it hard for the guy next to us, for each other.”