Kansas’ Miles cleared but won’t coach today
LAWRENCE, Kan. — University of Kansas football coach Les Miles, who previously tested positive for COVID-19, has been cleared to return to the Jayhawks, but he will not be with the team for today’s game at West Virginia.
The 66-year-old Miles, the former Oklahoma State and LSU coach in his second season at Kansas, announced last week that routine testing had returned a positive test. He experienced only mild symptoms while he was isolating, and he was able to work remotely with the Jayhawks, who did not have a game last week.
Miles said he made the “difficult decision” after conferring with the school’s medical team and administration and his coaching staff.
“While my 10- day window was completed this morning, there is too much still unknown about this virus for me to feel 100% confident that I won’t transmit it to someone who comes into close contact with me,” he said in a statement on the Jayhawks’ website.
Miles isn’t the only college football head coach to test positive for the virus. Alabama’s Nick Saban and Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin recently returned positive tests. Arkansas State’s Blake Anderson, Toledo’s Jason Candle and Florida State’s Mike Norvell also have tested positive and since returned to their teams.
The Jayhawks, who fell to 0- 3 with a 47-7 loss at Oklahoma State on Oct. 3, have had several clusters of positive tests within their program since summer
workouts resumed. One of them occurred just before the Sept. 12 season opener against Coastal Carolina.
Miles has been diligent about wearing masks during games, though photos showed him slipping it below his mouth when he greeted Baylor coach Dave Aranda and Oklahoma State counterpart Mike Gundy after each of their games.
“As we continue to work our way through this pandemic, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our players, coaches and staff that make up this great team,” Miles said. “It is up to me to set the right example for our student- athletes, and
that is what I am doing with this decision by not traveling with the team.”
Also on Friday, Southern Mississippi at UTEP became the sixth game scheduled for today to be postponed this week. Southern Miss announced that an increase in positive COVID-19 test results in the program forced the postponement. The schools and Conference USA will work to reschedule the game.
Earlier in the week, C-USA announced it was pushing back its title game to Dec. 18. There have been at least 32 games involving Football Bowl Subdivision teams canceled or postponed since Aug. 26.