Kansas football coach Les Miles has been placed on administrative leave following the release of an LSU Title IX investigation Friday that outlined more allegations of Miles sexually harassing student workers.
KU athletic director Jeff Long announced the move Friday night, saying it was done “as we conduct a full review to determine the appropriate next steps.”
“Even though the allegations against him occurred at LSU, we take these matters very seriously at KU,” Long said. “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.”
Long would not speculate on a timeline for the review; he said that was “because it is imperative we do our due diligence. We will be able to comment further once our review is complete.”
Miles, entering his third season as Kansas’ football coach, was cited frequently in LSU’s Husch Blackwell report Friday, which included former LSU athletic director Joe Alleva suggesting in an email to the school’s president in 2013 that Miles should be fired because of his alleged conduct with female student workers.
According to the investigation, another LSU student worker reported to the athletic department she was “very upset” about what happened to her during a time when she was alone with Miles. When given a later meeting with Miles, the woman repeated, “You know what you did to me,” with multiple LSU employees reporting that she appeared traumatized.
The report also said Miles was heavily involved with the hiring of LSU student workers, with employees stating he wanted “to sexualize the staff.” Miles allegedly demanded that he wanted “blondes with the big boobs” and “pretty girls.”
According to a 2013 investigation by another LSU-hired law firm, Taylor Porter, released Thursday, Miles also was accused of kissing a student twice in his parked car while also suggesting at times they go to a hotel or his condo, with the two parties eventually signing a settlement agreement that was first reported by The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate last week.
Long said Friday night that KU did not have access to either the Husch Blackwell or Taylor Porter reports until the past two days.
If KU Athletics wishes to fire Miles “for cause” — a route that would allow the department to get out of the rest of his five-year contract without paying him more than $8 million — it appears the department could face at least some challenges based on the wording of Miles’ contract.
The “for cause” wording in his contract — obtained by The Kansas City Star through an open records request — includes specific language regarding instances if Miles had NCAA violations or was charged in a criminal matter. Because these allegations are none of those — and also allegedly took place while he wasn’t the Jayhawks’ coach — KU would likely have to argue that either Miles should have alerted the school of the past allegations, or that their emergence in the public eye caused the department embarrassment and was a hit to its reputation.
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.
He has previously denied the allegations, and KU Athletics has said it was unaware of them when Miles was hired.
