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Les Miles Faces Multiple Hurdles in Hall of Fame Lawsuit
Former LSU football coach Les Miles, who coached the Tigers to a national championship in 2007 but was tainted by scandal, sued LSU, the NCAA and the National Football Foundation (NFF) and Hall of Fame Monday over his ineligibility for the College Football Hall of Fame.
In a complaint filed in a Louisiana federal district court, Miles, 70, contends he is a victim of a conspiracy to violate his due process rights as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. He seeks a court declaration that he’s eligible for the Hall of Fame, that vacated wins of games he coached count for eligibility and that “any agreement” between the defendants to exclude vacated wins be deemed void and unenforceable.
Miles finished his head coaching career with a record of 145-73* (66.5% winning percentage), including a 114-34* record from 11 seasons at LSU, where he has the highest winning percentage (77%*) in school history.
Notice the repeating asterisk. In 2023, LSU vacated 37 wins that occurred from 2012 through 2015. As a result, LSU’s official record during that time is 0-14, and Miles’ career record is officially 108-73, a winning percentage of 59.7%.
The revised calculations reflect an NCAA investigation into recruiting infractions regarding the LSU football and basketball teams. The NCAA found three violations connected to the football team, two of which, Miles stresses, occurred after he left the school in 2016. The one under Miles’ watch involved a booster who offered to employ the parents of LSU guard Vadal Alexander at the Our Lady of the Lake Foundation (a nonprofit for a hospital) and eventually hired the father. The booster later pleaded guilty to federal charges for defrauding the foundation. The NCAA found LSU had failed to monitor the booster.
As part of a settlement with the NCAA, LSU agreed to self-impose penalties rather than take the chance of experiencing a more severe punishment. Those penalties included scholarship reductions, recruiting restrictions and—of consequence to Miles—vacating 37 football wins. Vacating wins means the wins no longer count and are treated by the school and NCAA as if they never happened.
The NFF, which Miles insists is “controlled” by the NCAA, sets criteria for college football coaches’ eligibility for nomination and admission into the Hall of Fame. Coaches must be at least 70 years old (or 75 if still active), have been a head coach for at least 10 years, coached at least 100 games and earned a winning percentage of at least 60%. Miles’ official percentage is 59.7%, and thus Miles is ineligible.
Through attorney Peter Ginsberg, Miles argues that had LSU not offered to vacate the wins in a settlement, had the NCAA not accepted the offer and had NFF not gone along with the outcome, Miles would be eligible.
In the coming weeks, the defendants will answer the complaint and motion for its dismissal.
Expect at least four main defense arguments.
First, the defendants will likely assert that Miles lacks standing to bring this case. Universities and their member associations, such as an NCAA member school and the NCAA, can reach understandings to resolve disputes. Likewise, individual school employees—even powerful and highly paid ones like a head football coach—can’t block those agreements. The defendants will insist they didn’t need Miles’ blessing and that even if his eligibility for professional achievements was damaged as a result of vacating wins, that is not a legal injury for which they can be held responsible.
Second, expect LSU (a public university) to argue that while Miles may have been owed a hearing and other due process protections before the school fired him in 2016, those protections were connected to his property interest in employment—not his eligibility for a hall of fame. Attorney Tom Mars, who has represented college coaches and college athletes in contractual disputes, said he is “not aware of any precedent for a coach having a property interest in their W/L record.” Wins and losses are attached to a team and school, not a coach or player.
Third, LSU could insist any injury is inherently speculative. Miles was also a head coach at Oklahoma State and Kansas, the latter of which he coached after leaving LSU and finished with a 3-18 record. Miles could have qualified if his teams had performed better.
Lastly, expect the defendants to suggest Miles’ case advancing could open Pandora’s Box and the floodgates to litigation. If a coach or former coach has a property interest in wins, so too could players who played in those wins. Staff and perhaps even boosters and ticket holders might also say they have a protected stake.
World
Keir Starmer reportedly considering stepping down as PM and could announce timetable for departure
British PM Keir Starmer could face leadership challenge amid internal troubles
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces significant internal pressure following Andy Burnham’s special election win, potentially triggering a leadership contest. Starmer is under fire for economic pressures, illegal immigration issues, and controversies surrounding his previous role in prosecuting grooming gangs. Elon Musk also accused Starmer of complicity.
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reportedly considering stepping down and could announce a timetable for his departure as early as Monday, according to a report published Saturday.
Britain’s Observer newspaper reported that Starmer was discussing his future with his wife at his Chequers country residence before making a final decision.
The outlet reported that senior Labour Party figures expect a statement addressing his future as early as next week.
A government source told Reuters that Starmer remains focused on governing and pointed to previous comments in which he vowed to remain in office.
AS EPSTEIN-LINKED APPOINTMENT SPARKS BACKLASH, UK PM STARMER FACES PARTY REVOLT AMID RESIGNATION CALLS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer awaits Switzerland’s Federal President Guy Parmelin on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in Evian-les-Bains, France, Tuesday. (Isabel Infantes/Pool Reuters via AP)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the prime minister’s office for comment.
Pressure on Starmer has been building for months amid growing dissatisfaction within his party and concerns over the government’s handling of the economy and cost-of-living issues.
The political threat to Starmer intensified Friday after rival Andy Burnham won a seat in Parliament, positioning him to mount a formal leadership challenge.
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Britain’s Labour party candidate Andy Burnham speaks to supporters after the Makerfield by-election in Ashton in Makerfield, England, Friday. (Jon Super/AP)
Starmer congratulated Burnham following the victory, writing on X that voters, “chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate.”
When asked about Burnham’s apparent ambitions to replace him, Starmer insisted he intends to remain in office.
“I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away from that,” Starmer said.
UK’S STARMER JUGGLES TROUBLE AT HOME AS HE WALKS GEOPOLITICAL TIGHTROPE WITH TRUMP
Sir Keir Starmer is battling to save his position and refusing to stand aside despite dozens of Labout MP’s demanding he resigns. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Starmer has led the Labour Party since 2020 and became prime minister in 2024.
Calls for his resignation intensified last month, with more than 100 Labour lawmakers publicly urging him to step aside or set out a timetable for his departure. Several parliamentary aides also resigned in protest.
The internal revolt followed a series of disappointing local election results for Labour, which lost hundreds of council seats across England, surrendered long-held ground in Wales and fell behind political rivals in Scotland.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks a news conference at Downing Street in London, March 5. (Tolga Akmen/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)
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Starmer’s popularity has also declined amid a persistently high cost of living, sluggish economic growth and criticism over his acceptance of gifts from wealthy donors.
Fox News Digital’s James Cirrone and Emma Bussey, and Reuters contributed to this report.
United States President Donald Trump has pledged there will be no tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, unless they are collected by his own country.
Trump’s statement, made in a Saturday afternoon post on Truth Social, is the latest sign that a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) may be unravelling.
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“There will be NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired,” Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America.”
Since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, Iran has successfully used the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point, closing the strategic waterway to traffic.
But under the terms of Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum, the strait is supposed to reopen for an interim period of 60 days. During that time, Iran is barred from charging vessels for passage.
On Saturday, however, Iran’s joint military command said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, citing a “clear breach” of the memorandum’s commitments.
US Central Command (CENTCOM), the agency that oversees military operations in the region, denied that report and maintained that the traffic continues to flow through the waterway.
The Strait of Hormuz has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between the US and Iran. Nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas is transported through the strait, as well as about 30 percent of the global fertiliser trade.
Closure of the strait has caused global fuel costs to soar and has tested agricultural sectors across the world.
Trump had responded to Iran’s chokehold over the strait by imposing a US naval blockade on Iran’s ports in the region.
But that naval blockade was lifted under the terms of Wednesday’s memorandum. The deal also paused fighting on all fronts in the regional conflict, including in Lebanon.
The memorandum, though, was not intended as a long-term deal. It serves as a launching point for negotiations on key issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Several points of divergence also went unaddressed in the memorandum. Nowhere does the memo say that future tolls cannot be collected from the strait after the 60-day period expires.
Before the war, there was no charge for passage through the strait. Trump himself said in an interview with The New York Times that the waterway should remain “permanently toll-free”.
But he appeared to reverse course in Saturday’s post, once again floating the possibility that the US could extract tolls in the strait, while barring Iran from doing so.
No fees should be levied, Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed”.
He explained that such a charge would compensate the US “for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs”.
Trump used similar language in his New York Times interview earlier this week, floating the US becoming “the guardian of the Middle East” in exchange for 20 percent of its revenue.
Saturday’s post is not the first time Trump has mused about the US imposing tolls in the strait, either.
In April, for instance, he discussed the idea with reporters, saying, “What about us charging tolls? I’d rather do that than let them have them. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won.”
There has been no indication that Trump’s plans have been officially presented to countries in the region, many of whom have struck a careful balance in their dealings with both the US and Iran during the war.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly said they will not rule out imposing tolls in the strait, framing the issue as a matter of sovereignty and regional negotiation. The strait sits between Iran and Oman.
Further discussions are expected on the matter in the coming weeks.
But such negotiations have been thrown into jeopardy amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Lebanon, which threaten to violate Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum.
Iran claimed that Saturday’s closure of the strait was a result of new Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, which killed dozens of people after the ceasefire was announced.
Iranian officials have also said that any upcoming talks should focus on proper implementation of the initial memorandum, and that the 60-day negotiating period stipulated in Wednesday’s deal would begin after that was settled.
Pakistan, a top mediator between the US and Iran, has said that follow-up talks are set to begin in Switzerland on Sunday.
Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that an Iranian delegation, led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, has already arrived for the negotiations.
On the US side, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend.
Vance departed for Switzerland late Saturday.
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