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.