Former LSU AD wanted Miles fired

LSU’s former athletic director recommended in 2013 that Les Miles be fired as Tigers football coach because of his behavior with female student workers.

Then-athletic director Joe Alleva’s recommendation to former LSU President F. King Alexander is detailed in a newly released report into how the university handled sexual misconduct complaints.

The exhaustive report released Friday by the Husch Blackwell law firm, offers a scathing view of the resources and attention LSU has dedicated to such complaints and has resulted in the suspensions of two senior officials in the athletic department.

Executive deputy athletics director Verge Ausberry has been suspended 30 days and senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar 21 days. Both are suspended without pay and ordered to undergo sexual violence training.

Miles, who now coaches at Kansas, was investigated after two female student workers accused him of inappropriate behavior.

While that investigation by the Taylor Porter law firm found Miles showed poor judgment, it did not find violations of law or that he had a sexual relationship with any students. Taylor Porter also concluded it could not confirm one student’s allegation that Miles kissed her while they were in the coach’s car with no one else present.

Alleva recommended to then-LSU President King Alexander that Miles be fired with cause. In an email dated June 2013, Alleva wrote Miles was guilty of “insubordination, inappropriate behavior, putting the university, athletic dept (cq) and football program at great risk.”

Miles, who was hired by LSU in 2005 and won a national title in 2007, remained the Tigers’ coach until he was fired during the 2016 season when the Tigers were 2-2.

Miles has strenuously denied allegations he made sexual advances toward students and has said he merely sought to serve as a mentor for people who expressed to him an interest in pursuing careers in sports.

Kansas has issued a statement saying it is reviewing the recent revelations before deciding upon any action regarding Miles’ status as coach.

Meanwhile, LSU has not fired anyone whose conduct was criticized in the Husch Backwell report.

Interim President Tom Galligan said during a meeting Friday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that he sought to be fair in issuing discipline. Galligan stressed that the independent report released Friday concluded that failures in responding to sexual misconduct complaints at LSU stemmed largely from ambiguous policies and a lack of resources for “overburdened” employees tasked with handling such complaints.

“People will be unhappy either way,” Galligan said of how the university chooses to discipline individuals cited for making mistakes in the report by the Husch Blackwell law firm.

Galligan then read an excerpt from the report stating that such employees “were not served well by the leadership of the university.”

Attorney Scott Schneider, who led the Husch Blackwell probe, said the university “has been very slow to develop policies and infrastructure and personnel that was really required” to ensure compliance with federal Title IX laws that deal broadly with gender equity in education, and which also apply to instances of sexual violence or harassment at educational institutions.

Schneider found that LSU leadership “responded in a lackluster fashion” when officials who handled Title IX compliance requested more resources.

“The university’s Title IX office was never staffed appropriately,” he said.