LSU AD requested Miles be fired in 2013 due to sexual complaints
LSU’s athletic director in 2013 recommended football coach Les Miles be fired because of his behavior with female student workers, according to a law firm’s 148-page review of how the university has handled sexual misconduct complaints.
The recommendation by Joe Alleva, athletic director for the Tigers at the time, to F. King Alexander, who was then the school’s president, is detailed in a report made public Friday by the Husch Blackwell law firm. The report offers a scathing view of the resources and attention the Baton Rouge university has dedicated to such complaints on campus, and it has resulted in two senior athletic officials being suspended without pay: executive deputy AD Verge Ausberry for 30 days and senior associate AD Miriam Segar for 21 days, with both ordered to undergo sexual violence training.
Miles, who is now preparing for his third season at Kansas, was investigated after two female student workers in LSU’s football program accused the coach of inappropriate behavior. While that 2013 investigation by the Taylor Porter law firm
with cause. In an email dated June 2013, Alleva wrote Miles was guilty of “insubordination, inappropriate behavior, putting the university, athletic dept and football program at great risk.”
The Taylor Porter review had been kept confidential for nearly eight years until a redacted version of it was released this week after a lawsuit filed by USA Today.
Miles, who was hired by LSU in 2005, won a national title during the 2007 season and guided the team to another national championship game to cap the 2011 season. He remained as coach of the Tigers until he was fired after a 2-2 start in 2016.
Miles, 67, has denied allegations he made sexual advances toward students and has said he merely sought to serve as a mentor for those who expressed 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 his status as coach of the Jayhawks, who are 3-18 in two seasons under Miles.
The Husch Blackwell report, which revisits the Miles investigation, also describes how the former coach “tried to sexualize the staff of student workers in the football program by, for instance, allegedly demanding that he wanted blondes with big breasts, and ‘pretty girls.’”
LSU has not fired any current employees whose conduct was criticized in the Husch Blackwell report.
Tom Galligan, the school’s interim president, said during an LSU Board of Supervisors meeting Friday that he sought to be fair in issuing discipline. Galligan stressed the independent report concluded 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 matters.
“People will be unhappy either way,” Galligan said of how the university chooses to discipline employees involved in the scandal. He 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 review, said that while LSU does not have a monopoly on mishandling sexual misconduct cases, 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.
Galligan offered public apologies to victims and said he intends to act on all 18 recommendations in the report on how to strengthen how the university handles sexual misconduct complaints. Those recommendations called for everything from clarification of policies and protocols to increases in staffing and departmental reorganizations.