Fansided

Identity crisis for Nebraska hoops coach Tim Miles

By Phil Watson

Mar 21, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Tim Miles argues with an official in the second half of a men's college basketball game during the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament at AT&T Center. Tim Miles was ejected from the game. There was no report whether or not the official called him "Les." Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 21, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Tim Miles argues with an official in the second half of a men's college basketball game during the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament at AT&T Center. Tim Miles was ejected from the game. There was no report whether or not the official called him "Les." Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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The basketball program at the University of Nebraska has never gotten a lot of respect.

That sort of thing will happen when a school in a major conference (several major conferences, actually) is 0-6 all-time in the NCAA tournament.

But Huskers coach Tim Miles wants New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Ron Higgins to know that while his team has yet to win a tournament game, he’s not LSU football coach Les Miles.

Higgins tweeted out a quote from Les Miles’ press conference on Tuesday, attributing it to @CoachMiles:

There’s only one problem … @CoachMiles is Nebraska basketball coach Tim, not LSU football coach Les, something that Tim Miles took the time to point out.

For the record, LSU coach Les Miles is on Twitter, but his handle is @LSUCoachMiles. It’s an understandable mistake, sure, but it’s a little less understandable coming from a writer in Les Miles’ home turf.

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And it’s not like they are hard to tell apart. Les Miles is 60 years old, played football at Michigan in the 1970s and coached at Michigan, Colorado, Oklahoma State and LSU since 1980, as well as three years on the Dallas Cowboys’ staff from 1998-2000.

He’s been in Baton Rouge since 2005 and has a career record of 124-45 and a national championship.

Tim Miles’ journey hasn’t been quite as glamorous. The 48-year-old played in the late 1980s at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., and immediately got into the coaching game at such off-the-beaten path locales as Northern State, Mayville State, Southwest Minnesota State and North Dakota State before getting a bit closer to the beaten path for five years at Colorado State.

He’s been in Lincoln since 2012 and has a career record of 313-250 … with no national championships.

In basketball or football.