Former LSU athletic director Joe Alleva suggested to his school's president in 2013 that football coach Les Miles should be fired because of his alleged conduct against female student workers, according to an investigation into how LSU responded to Title IX complaints released Friday.
Miles, entering his third season as Kansas' football coach, was cited frequently in other parts of the report as well, which included the description of a meeting with a female student worker who claimed that something bad happened to her when she was alone with Miles.
Alleva's email was sent to incoming LSU president F. King Alexander in June 2013 after two student workers had accused Miles of sexual harassment.
"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 in his email. "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. The court of public opinion would favor us."
In a previous email to LSU chancellor William Jenkins from April 2013, Alleva also said Miles' "continued employment needs to be seriously considered" while citing his use of a secret personal phone to contact student workers.
"It gives me great concern for the future," Alleva wrote.
The investigation says that in early 2013, an LSU student worker came forward to say she was "very upset" about something that took place when she was alone with Miles. She requested a meeting with Miles, and during it, another LSU Athletics employee reported that she was "completely traumatized" by the alleged incident: "The child had a dead stare ... she just kept saying, over and over, 'You know what you did to me." Another LSU Athletics employee described the student's interaction as "emotional" and "traumatic."
The investigation, conducted by law firm Husch Blackwell at LSU's request, said there was no record of the student's concern being investigated to the level of the university's policy at the time. The student, after that, was said by LSU Athletics employees to have "fell off the face of the earth," with those people unaware of what happened to her after that.
At that point, according to the report, Alleva told Miles to refrain from contact with student workers.
Shortly after, though, a second student worker reported "inappropriate contact and text messages with Miles."
An athletic department staffer also reported Miles was involved with hiring student employees after his team's loss in the 2012 national championship game, attempting "to sexualize the staff" by allegedly demanding he wanted "blondes with the big boobs" and "pretty girls." The investigation found several witnesses corroborated that account.
On Thursday, a 2013 LSU investigation revealed that Miles, during his tenure at LSU, was accused of kissing a female student and texting her and another from his personal phone, leading the school to bar him from being alone with women who were student employees.
Miles coached at LSU from 2005 until he was fired for the team's performance after a 2-2 start in 2016. He was hired as KU's football coach in November 2018 and is 3-18 in two seasons with the Jayhawks. KU finished 0-9 in 2020.
