"Les Miles is one of the most successful coaches in America and he has the LSU program in position to compete for championships each and every year in the most dominant football conference in the country," LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said then in a statement . "He recruits at an elite level, his players graduate and he is a respected member of the community. We are proud he will lead the LSU football program for the long-term future."
The student worker who said Miles kissed her lodged a complaint with athletic department officials one month later.
The school fired Miles in 2016, after LSU got off to a 2-2 start. Miles’ attorneys said in court documents that his firing was “wholly unrelated” to the allegations in the report.
The University of Kansas, the state’s flagship public college, hired Miles in November 2018. He was paid $3.3 million in 2020, making him the highest-paid public employee in the state, according to 24/7 Wall Street.
Kansas spokesman Dan Beckler told USA TODAY last week that the school did not know about the allegations when Miles was hired. It had spoken with Miles and was gathering more information, Beckler said.
"Because this involves Coach Miles’ former employer and pre-dates his time at KU, and because we do not have factual knowledge about details of these allegations, it is not appropriate for us to comment further,” Beckler said.
Beckler has not yet returned a request for comment from USA TODAY following the release of the report Thursday.
According to the investigation report, which replaces references to Miles’ name with “XXX,” Miles became more “hands on” about matters in the athletic department after leading LSU to the national title, “including the student employees.” The report says that Miles was involved in both recruiting and interviewing female student employees in 2012, and made it known they should have a certain “look. (attractive, blond, fit.)”
“He also made their supervisors feel that existing student employees who did not meet this criteria should be given fewer hours or terminated.”
But Miles’ interest in some employees extended beyond their hiring, according to women interviewed by the investigators. The student workers who reported Miles to their bosses in 2013 said he offered to help them get jobs in the industry, telling one she might be able to work for him “on his personal business” after graduation.
One worker, who is referred to as Student No. 2, along with her father, reported Miles to the student’s supervisor, LSU director of football recruiting Sharon Lewis in February 2013. Miles had started sending her Facebook messages, and during a meeting with Miles alone in his office, she said he suggested she could work for his personal business when she graduated, the woman told investigators.
The student and Miles exchanged phone numbers and met up later, driving around in Miles’ car as he complimented her appearance, suggested they go to a hotel and then kissing her twice, the student said.
Miles told the investigator the purpose of this meeting was to “talk with her more about her career aspirations and to tell her about a sports agent he had seen on a recent trip.” He admitted driving her alone in his car but denied kissing her.
While the investigator could not make a determination of what happened, she criticized Miles’ behavior.
“However, there can be little doubt that the conduct, if true, is inappropriate and unacceptable,” the report says. “Even accepting XXX’s version of events, it appears that he has shown poor judgment in placing himself (and the student employee) in a situation in which the student employee might be uncomfortable and/or he can be subject to such complaint.”
Prior to Student No. 2’s complaint, another student worker, referred to as Student No. 1, reported in the summer of 2012 that she had a phone call and other interactions with Miles that made her uncomfortable. The student said she became concerned when Miles had asked her to babysit his children, but then changed his plans and asked her to join them to go watch a movie.
This student had also stayed at Miles’ condo one night, at Miles’ wife’s suggestion, the report says.
The report also says that Student No. 1 told Student No. 2 that Miles had “cornered” and touched her, but she denied this during her interview with the investigator. Student No. 2 maintained that Miles had subjected her to “unwanted touching.”
As a result of Student No. 1’s concerns, Alleva met with Miles and barred him from having any one-on-one meetings or interactions with student employees, and from texting or calling them. The athletic department also conducted various sexual harassment trainings, and Miles was told that student employees could not babysit for him.
The report says Miles also texted at least one other former student employee using a personal phone that LSU had no knowledge of or way to monitor. The student said she wasn’t uncomfortable with it, though she found it unusual. The investigator found it “troubling,” she wrote, that other department employees addressed the situation by telling the student to ignore the texts; the employees “implied that others had similar experiences,” the report says.
The investigator wrote that she interviewed other students and supervisors, but not every student working with Student No. 2, so as not to jeopardize her confidentiality and because she “did not have any indication that any other student employee has had a similar experience.” LSU also did not have other similar complaints against Miles, the investigator said.
Still, investigators said remedial steps should be taken to address Miles’ “problematic behaviors.” This included a written directive prohibiting him from having one-to-one contact with student employees and requiring him to use his LSU-issued cell phone for communication with employees. She also recommended Miles attend counseling “to help him understand how to establish appropriate boundaries with students and student employees.”
LSU ordered Miles to turn over a list of all the phone numbers he owned.
Miles’ attorneys were “very reluctant” that there be any documentation of the investigation or its findings.
“However, because past attempts to sensitize XXX to the consequences of his behavior have been unsuccessful, we recommend that there be such a written directive,” the investigator wrote.
