Les Miles Leaves Kansas Days After Harassment Accusations at L.S.U. Became Public

Until recently, though, Miles’s job did not appear to be in imminent peril. But as L.S.U. faced accusations that it had mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct, USA Today sued for a copy of a 2013 investigative report by a law firm with close ties to the university.

The report, prompted after two women who worked for the football program complained about Miles’s conduct, said that the coach had played a role in hiring decisions and that he had “made it clear that he wanted these employees to have a certain ‘look’ (attractive, blond, fit).”

Investigators were skeptical of the complaints in one account. But the second woman who came forward with misgivings told a deeply unsettling story about how Miles had begun sending her messages after she started work with the football program, and how the powerful coach had pressed her to deploy an alias and add her phone number to his personal cellphone.

She also said that she and Miles had met off campus, that the coach had suggested they retreat to a hotel or his condominium and that he had kissed her twice. Other allegations in the report were redacted.

Although L.S.U.’s lawyers felt in 2013 that Miles’s conduct did not justify his firing — and he had just received a contract extension with a raise to $4.3 million a year — others inside the university were deeply alarmed.

The new investigation that was completed on Friday showed that Joe Alleva, who was the athletic director at L.S.U. in 2013 and had already warned his coach against meeting one-on-one with student employees, believed Miles should be ousted for cause.

“I always believe that people are innocent until proven guilty and in this case I believe he is guilty of insubordination, inappropriate behavior, putting the university, athletic dept and football program at great risk,” Alleva wrote to other L.S.U. officials in June 2013. “I think we have cause.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/sports/ncaafootball/les-miles-fired-kansas-lsu.html