Last summer, nearly to the day in fact, the LSU football program announced that they would be vacating all 37 wins that were accumulated in the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons in response to a Level I violation related to the eligibility of four-year starter and 2015 All-American offensive lineman Vadal Alexander. The school received a notice of allegations in March 2022 after it was discovered in 2018 that Alexander's father was paid over $180,000 in embezzled funds during his son's time at LSU.
Fast forward one year, and this is all coming up once again because former LSU head coach Les Miles is now suing the school. Miles, who was fired in 2016 as the school was on their way to their third consecutive seasons with fewer than 10 wins, takes issue with this self-imposed penalty because it prevents him from being eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame.
“In a complaint filed against LSU, Les Miles challenges the decision to vacate wins cost him a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame,” tweets On3's Pete Nakos (h/t Alex Weber of On3.com). “He calls on the court to declare him eligible for CFBHOF and declare the vacated wins be considered wins so he’s eligible for nomination.”
The criteria for coaches to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame is as follows: Coaches must have at least 10 years of head coaching experience, coached 100 games, and had at least a .600 winning percentage. With those 37 wins included on his resume, Miles' career record would've been 145-73, good for a .665 winning percentage. However, after those wins were vacated, his career record drops to 108-73, a .597 winning percentage. Just shy of College Football Hall of Fame eligibility.
The suit, which is available to be read in its entirety here states, “Defendants stripped Les Miles — indisputably one of the most esteemed college football coaches in the history of the State of Louisiana — of his established eligibility for the College Football Hall of Fame without an opportunity to be heard. Les Miles now seeks appropriate remedy for the blot placed on his good name and reputation when Defendants deprived him of his Hall of Fame eligibility without due process.”
Les Miles' LSU coaching career
Les Miles was named the head coach of the LSU Tigers shortly after Nick Saban announced he'd be taking his talents to the NFL (very briefly) to coach the Miami Dolphins. Miles, who had a decent four-year tenure at Oklahoma State, kept the Bayou Bengals at the top of the college football world, accumulating a 34-6 record in his first three seasons with the program, which included wins in the Peach Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the BCS National Championship Game.
Following a two-year blip in which LSU went only 17-9, Miles and the Tigers then ripped off a four-year run in which LSU went 44-9 (20 of those wins have since been vacated). In that four year span, the Tigers went 2-2 in bowl games, which included a loss in the BCS National Championship Game to Alabama, who the Tigers had defeated once already earlier in the season.
Miles' career eventually flamed out at LSU, and it would be another few years until he landed a head coaching job. But Les Miles' time at Kansas was marked by controversy and by a complete and total lack of success. Miles was 3-18 in two seasons with the Jayhawks, and the two sides eventually agreed to part ways after an investigation was opened into allegations that Miles had engaged in inappropriate conduct with female students while coaching at LSU.
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