Les Miles files lawsuit against LSU, NCAA over College Football Hall of Fame eligibility

Former LSU coach Les Miles filed a lawsuit Monday against the university, claiming the institution’s decision to vacate 37 wins for NCAA infractions eliminated his entry to the College Football Hall of Fame.

The 17-page complaint filed against LSU also names the NCAA and the National Football Foundation (NFF) as defendants. The NFF manages the College Football Hall of Fame.

Filed Monday in the Middle District of Louisiana, Miles, who coached the Tigers to the 2007 national championship, argues for an “appropriate remedy for the blot placed on his good name and reputation when Defendants deprived him of his Hall of Fame eligibility without due process.”

Miles made stops at Oklahoma State, LSU and Kansas in his nearly 20-year head coaching career. Without the 37 wins vacated in June 2023, his overall record is 145-73, a .665 win percentage. But LSU football vacated wins from 2012 to 2015 because of recruiting violations. The self-imposed penalty stemmed from impermissible benefits paid to the father of former LSU offensive lineman Vadal Alexander by a booster.

The decision dropped Miles’ overall record to 108-73 – a .597 win percentage. To earn admission into the College Football Hall of Fame, coaches must have a career winning percentage of .600 in at least 100 games.

“Importantly, the NCAA and the LSU Defendants also barred Miles from applying the vacated wins toward specific honors or victory ‘milestones’ of any kind,” the complaint states. “In issuing the Public Infractions Decision, the NCAA and the LSU Defendants further agreed to forbid, and did forbid, any other or future employer of Miles from considering the vacated wins in assessing his record or his eligibility for honors of any kind.”

LSU, the NCAA and the NFF have not issued comments on the lawsuit at this time.

Kansas record impacts winning percentage

The lawsuit demands the court to declare Miles eligible for a Hall of Fame nomination and for his vacated wins to be considered wins to determine Miles’s eligibility for admission. The complaint also contends the NFF is associated with the NCAA, stating the NFF “is controlled by the NCAA.” The two entities remain separate outside of NFF members who work for the governing body.

Miles is seeking a court to declare any agreement made by LSU or the NCAA to not consider the vacated wins for College Football Hall of Fame admission to be deemed void and unenforceable.

Miles also kept coaching after his stint at LSU, spending two seasons at Kansas where he went 3-18. Another win with the Jayhawks would have boosted his career-winning percentage past the threshold of .600 to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.

Les Miles left Kansas in March 2021 after he was placed on administrative leave amid accusations of inappropriate behavior toward female students during his time at LSU. Kansas agreed to pay Miles a $1.99 million buyout.

Lawsuit alleges LSU “failed and refused” to hear Les Miles

As part of the College Football Hall of Fame process, institutions may nominate an eligible coach for admission. The suit alleges that because of LSU’s move to vacate the 37 wins, it’s controlling the outcome while Miles had “property interests.”

“Thus, the agreement among the Defendants retroactively to modify Miles’s win-loss record, as embodied in the Public Infractions Decision, is controlling for purposes of Miles’s College Hall of Fame eligibility,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit also alleges the LSU basketball program faced “more serious violations” from the NCAA, but the institution decided to not vacate any basketball wins. Miles’ lawyers allege LSU “failed and refused” to hear the head coach’s opinions to vacate wins before making a decision.

The suit alleges this was an intentional move by the NCAA and LSU.

“Upon information and belief, the LSU Defendants’ decision not to provide Miles with any form of due process was made in agreement with the NCAA, and in furtherance of the LSU Defendants’ negotiations with the NCAA concerning additional and more severe penalties that otherwise likely would have been imposed on LSU and its athletics programs,” according to the complaint.