Les Miles lawsuit: Why did the former football coach sue LSU?
Former LSU Tigers legendary coach Les Miles is currently filing a lawsuit to sue the school. The details continue to come in but Miles is reportedly suing the LSU Tigers for vacating wins during the period 2012-15. This eliminated him from consideration for the College Football Hall of Fame.
The school vacated 37 victories within that time due to the NCAA finding Level I violations dating back to 2012. The violation saw a representative of LSU's athletics interests paying the father of a potential athlete more than $180,000 over a five-year period as part of an embezzlement scheme.
The athlete, who was not named in the report, was part of the program from 2012-16 while the representative has been disassociated with the program for 10 years.
As a result, LSU vacated all 37 wins during that time. The suit was filed in the Middle District of Louisiana and according to it, Miles is seeking "appropriate remedy for the blot placed on his good name and reputation."
The National Football Foundation and the NCAA are also listed as defendants in this case. The Foundation oversees the College Football Hall of Fame and is the reason they are associated with the lawsuit. Miles' career record with the 37 vacated wins added in would have him at 145-73 in his career.
What are the qualifications for Les Miles to be considered for the College Football Hall of Fame?
Les Miles had a legendary career, especially with the LSU Tigers as he won a national championship and made it twice during his coaching tenure.
However, the qualification for a coach to be considered is to have a .600 career winning percentage. With the 37 vacated wins, Miles' career winning percentage fell below that number to .597 and thus made him unable to hit the cutoff.
However, Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports is reporting that neither of the three schools he worked for - Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Tigers, and Kansas Jayhawks - would potentially nominate him for the Hall of Fame.
This will be an interesting case to see how it plays out as other coaches could potentially follow a similar blueprint in the future.