Former LSU head coach Les Miles has decided to sue the NCAA, LSU, and the College Football Hall of Fame for not allowing him into the Hall of Fame.
The suit, filed Monday in federal court in Baton Rouge, claims that LSU never allowed Miles to be heard before altering the coach’s career record significantly enough to disqualify him from consideration for the College Football Hall of Fame.
“Les was given no right to be heard, or even advance notice of LSU’s actions, despite LSU being a state-owned and state-run institution that is bound by constitutional safeguards,” Miles’ lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, said in a statement.
The school decided to vacate 37 of Miles’ wins after an NCAA investigation that discovered the school paid former Tigers offensive lineman Vadal Alexander, which is an NCAA violation.
The vacated wins dropped his overall record from 145-73 (.665) to 108-73 (.597). It is noted in the lawsuit that a .600 career win percentage is required to qualify for the College Football Hall of Fame, which as of now, Miles is not eligible for.
LSU was trying to lessen the damage brought on by him and former LSU basketball coach Will Wade, who also had violated the rules.
“Trying to placate the NCAA and avoid punishment for recruiting violations that almost entirely involved the men’s basketball team and its coaches, and in no way implicated Les, LSU voluntarily offered to reverse dozens of victories earned by Les’ teams,” Miles’s lawyer continued.
While Miles may have a case when it comes to this issue, the elephant in the room that no one is addressing including Miles himself, is his alleged bad behavior at LSU which later got him fired. He then became the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks and went 3-18 in two seasons at the helm.
Miles was accused by an LSU student of sexual harassment that took place around the 2012-2013 season. The student said in her suit that Miles“groomed, sexually and emotionally manipulated, and damaged” her after recruiting her from an LSU sorority to work for him. He also was allegedly inappropriate with another female student at LSU.
Yet, Miles was allowed to stay on as head coach despite the allegations that followed him to Kansas, who fired him after the dirty details came out.
Paul Finebaum admitted this is probably why Miles won’t make it in.
“I think, based entirely on the field, he’s a serious candidate,” Finebaum said. “I think he hurt himself with all of these off-the-field issues, which I still think are somewhat fuzzy. But significant enough to affect his standing.”
Miles may have forgotten but the College Football Hall of Fame hasn’t. Like most Hall of Fames, they have standards and even if the NCAA reversed its ruling, it still doesn’t guarantee that he will be allowed in the Hall of Fame.
