Denny Medley / USA TODAY Sports
Kansas athletic director Jeff Long announced Friday that he has placed Les Miles on administrative leave after consecutive days of reports of his behavior toward female students while at LSU.
The University of Kansas will also, according to Long, launch its own investigation into the allegations against Miles. As of Friday night, Long said they had not seen the Husch Blackwell and Taylor Porter reports, which set out the alleged inappropriate misconduct.
“Today, I have placed head football coach Les Miles on administrative leave while we conduct a full review to determine the appropriate next steps,” Long said in a statement. ‘Although the allegations against him have occurred at LSU, we take these matters very seriously at KU.
‘Now that we have access to this information, we will take the next few days to fully review the material and see if there is any further information available. I do not want to speculate on a timeline for our review, as it is imperative that we do the necessary research. We will be able to comment further once our investigation is complete. ”
LSU on Friday released a comprehensive report by law firm Husch Blackwell outlining how the university has dealt with sexual misconduct and domestic assault in recent times, including allegations of sexual misconduct against former soccer head coach Miles.
According to the original internal report released by LSU on Thursday, Miles was banned from being alone with female students after the investigation into sexual harassment in 2013. According to the initial report from eight years ago, Miles sent female student workers via SMS, only to drove his apartment and kissed a student at least once. Reportedly, Miles, who was directly involved in hiring student employees, ‘made it clear that he wanted these employees to have a certain’ appearance ‘(attractive, blonde, fit). “According to the report, employees had to get fewer hours or layoffs at the time, which did not fit the description.
In the new report released Friday, Husch Blackwell found that the LSU athletics division was not responding properly to the allegations against Miles.
“We are unable to comment on whether the allegations are true or not,” Husch Blackwell said in a statement. ‘Instead, it is about whether the University reacted against this report [Miles] … in a manner consistent with existing legal guidance, recognized best practices and institutional policies. The answer is ‘no’. “
LSU has hired the law firm to oversee how it handles dozens of cases in all departments, dating back to 2016, following a USA Today reported last fall on how the LSU athletics department and broader administration are failing to adequately address allegations of sexual misconduct against top athletes and other students.
Husch Blackwell’s report revealed that former athletic director Joe Alleva recommended in 2013 that Miles be fired over the case, citing “insubordination, inappropriate behavior that endangers the university, athletics department and football program.”
“However, it amazes me that it has lasted so long and that it has become the norm, right?” “And you just do not talk about it and you do not say anything, you just go, ‘because we protect LSU, we protect our brand, we protect our head coach, we protect it, we like LSU, so we will be loyal to LSU , so that we will do what we can to help it and try to fix it.
“But you know, nobody wants a big explosion to where, there’s a big scandal, you know? I always felt we should always be protective, you know? You want to protect LSU. You do not want there. should not be any big explosion or scandal or, you know, even less like that, right? ‘