03-06-2021, 01:20 PM
Coach Les Miles placed on leave at Kansas after LSU investigation reveals pattern of misconductKansas placed head football coach Les Miles on administrative leave Friday night following two consecutive days of damning reports about his behavior with female students while he was at Louisiana State University.
Kansas will do a “full review” of the allegations against Miles, athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement. The school was not able to see the Husch Blackwell and Taylor Porter reports, both of which detailed alleged inappropriate behavior by Miles with female students at LSU, until their release, Long said.
“Today, I placed head football coach Les Miles on administrative leave as we conduct a full review to determine the appropriate next steps,” Long said in his statement. “Even though the allegations against him occurred at LSU, we take these matters very seriously at KU.
“Now that we have access to this information, we will take the coming days to fully review the material and to see if any additional information is available. I do not want to speculate on a timeline for our review because it is imperative we do our due diligence. We will be able to comment further once our review is complete.”
LSU “chronicled significant alleged misconduct” by Miles from 2009 on, according to a report released Friday by Husch Blackwell, an outside law firm the school hired to review its handling of sexual misconduct cases. That included Miles’ attempts to sexualize the staff of students working for the LSU football team in 2012, allegedly demanding he wanted “blondes with big boobs” and “pretty girls.”
On Thursday, LSU released the findings of another investigation, this one from 2013 that was devoted solely to Miles’ conduct. Taylor Porter investigators found his behavior inappropriate, and LSU issued a letter of reprimand. Then-athletic director Joe Alleva also barred Miles from being alone with student workers, the Taylor Porter report said, and Husch Blackwell found Alleva was so concerned he urged LSU to fire Miles in 2013.
Miles remained at LSU until 2016, when he was fired after a 2-2 start. Kansas spokesman Dan Beckler said last week that the school was unaware of the allegations against Miles at LSU when he was hired in 2018.
Miles is 3-18 in two seasons at Kansas, including a winless record in 2020. He is due to be paid less than $8.3 million on a contract that runs through Dec. 31, 2023. But a clause in Miles’ contract allows Kansas to terminate him for “any conduct, which in Athletics' or KU's judgment brings Head Coach and/or KU into public disrepute, embarrassment, contempt, or ridicule.”
Miles is one of college football’s most successful and colorful coaches. He reached the national championship game twice, winning it in 2007, and was The Associated Press National Coach of the Year in 2011. He is 3-18 in two seasons at Kansas, including a winless record in 2020.
Miles had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and attorney Peter Ginsberg said Thursday he hoped the release of the Taylor Porter report puts an end to the “baseless, inaccurate media reports.”
“As the report concludes, the allegation that Coach Miles attempted to kiss the woman was supported by no evidence and warranted no discipline: `We do not believe under existing law and the terms of the contract there is cause to discipline and/or terminate’ Coach Miles,” Ginsberg’s statement said.
But that mischaracterized the findings of the Taylor Porter investigators, who said they were “unable to determine” what happened in a car when a female student said Miles kissed her twice after suggesting “they go to a hotel together and mentioned his condo as another meeting place. He also complimented her on her appearance and said he was attracted to her.” Even if they were to accept Miles’ version of events, investigators wrote, “it appears that he has shown poor judgment.”
Husch Blackwell went into greater detail about allegations against Miles’ and the university’s concern over them.
The team’s longtime director of football recruiting, Sharon Lewis, in 2019 reported “significant alleged misconduct” by Miles spanning nearly seven years beginning in 2009. Lewis’ report to the deputy Title IX coordinator included Miles’ comments about his preferred “look” for female student workers and that he took a more direct role in the hiring of those student workers after losing the 2012 national championship game. LSU did nothing to investigate those allegations in 2019, the Husch Blackwell report notes.
Lewis told Husch Blackwell she repeatedly reported her concerns about Miles’ conduct at the time to athletics administrators at the time, as well, but that her reports “went nowhere.” Lewis said her “worst nightmare happened” when one of her student employees came to her “completely traumatized about an incident that had happened when she was alone with Miles, noting she had a “dead stare” and kept saying over and over, “You know what you did to me.”
Though Taylor Porter investigators said they did not believe there was cause to fire Miles, Alleva sent then-LSU president F. King Alexander and the school’s legal counsel an email in June 2013 recommending just that.
“I want us to think about which scenario is worse for LSU. Explaining why we let him go or explaining why we let him stay,” Alleva wrote. “I think we have cause. I specifically told him not to text, call or be alone with any student workers and he obviously didn’t listen. I know there are many possible outcomes and much risk either way, but I believe it is in the best interest in the long run to make a break. ”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/inve...591583001/
Kansas will do a “full review” of the allegations against Miles, athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement. The school was not able to see the Husch Blackwell and Taylor Porter reports, both of which detailed alleged inappropriate behavior by Miles with female students at LSU, until their release, Long said.
“Today, I placed head football coach Les Miles on administrative leave as we conduct a full review to determine the appropriate next steps,” Long said in his statement. “Even though the allegations against him occurred at LSU, we take these matters very seriously at KU.
“Now that we have access to this information, we will take the coming days to fully review the material and to see if any additional information is available. I do not want to speculate on a timeline for our review because it is imperative we do our due diligence. We will be able to comment further once our review is complete.”
LSU “chronicled significant alleged misconduct” by Miles from 2009 on, according to a report released Friday by Husch Blackwell, an outside law firm the school hired to review its handling of sexual misconduct cases. That included Miles’ attempts to sexualize the staff of students working for the LSU football team in 2012, allegedly demanding he wanted “blondes with big boobs” and “pretty girls.”
On Thursday, LSU released the findings of another investigation, this one from 2013 that was devoted solely to Miles’ conduct. Taylor Porter investigators found his behavior inappropriate, and LSU issued a letter of reprimand. Then-athletic director Joe Alleva also barred Miles from being alone with student workers, the Taylor Porter report said, and Husch Blackwell found Alleva was so concerned he urged LSU to fire Miles in 2013.
Miles remained at LSU until 2016, when he was fired after a 2-2 start. Kansas spokesman Dan Beckler said last week that the school was unaware of the allegations against Miles at LSU when he was hired in 2018.
Miles is 3-18 in two seasons at Kansas, including a winless record in 2020. He is due to be paid less than $8.3 million on a contract that runs through Dec. 31, 2023. But a clause in Miles’ contract allows Kansas to terminate him for “any conduct, which in Athletics' or KU's judgment brings Head Coach and/or KU into public disrepute, embarrassment, contempt, or ridicule.”
Miles is one of college football’s most successful and colorful coaches. He reached the national championship game twice, winning it in 2007, and was The Associated Press National Coach of the Year in 2011. He is 3-18 in two seasons at Kansas, including a winless record in 2020.
Miles had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and attorney Peter Ginsberg said Thursday he hoped the release of the Taylor Porter report puts an end to the “baseless, inaccurate media reports.”
“As the report concludes, the allegation that Coach Miles attempted to kiss the woman was supported by no evidence and warranted no discipline: `We do not believe under existing law and the terms of the contract there is cause to discipline and/or terminate’ Coach Miles,” Ginsberg’s statement said.
But that mischaracterized the findings of the Taylor Porter investigators, who said they were “unable to determine” what happened in a car when a female student said Miles kissed her twice after suggesting “they go to a hotel together and mentioned his condo as another meeting place. He also complimented her on her appearance and said he was attracted to her.” Even if they were to accept Miles’ version of events, investigators wrote, “it appears that he has shown poor judgment.”
Husch Blackwell went into greater detail about allegations against Miles’ and the university’s concern over them.
The team’s longtime director of football recruiting, Sharon Lewis, in 2019 reported “significant alleged misconduct” by Miles spanning nearly seven years beginning in 2009. Lewis’ report to the deputy Title IX coordinator included Miles’ comments about his preferred “look” for female student workers and that he took a more direct role in the hiring of those student workers after losing the 2012 national championship game. LSU did nothing to investigate those allegations in 2019, the Husch Blackwell report notes.
Lewis told Husch Blackwell she repeatedly reported her concerns about Miles’ conduct at the time to athletics administrators at the time, as well, but that her reports “went nowhere.” Lewis said her “worst nightmare happened” when one of her student employees came to her “completely traumatized about an incident that had happened when she was alone with Miles, noting she had a “dead stare” and kept saying over and over, “You know what you did to me.”
Though Taylor Porter investigators said they did not believe there was cause to fire Miles, Alleva sent then-LSU president F. King Alexander and the school’s legal counsel an email in June 2013 recommending just that.
“I want us to think about which scenario is worse for LSU. Explaining why we let him go or explaining why we let him stay,” Alleva wrote. “I think we have cause. I specifically told him not to text, call or be alone with any student workers and he obviously didn’t listen. I know there are many possible outcomes and much risk either way, but I believe it is in the best interest in the long run to make a break. ”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/inve...591583001/
