Les Miles’ attorney issues statement following LSU report

The following is a statement from Attorney Peter R. Ginsburg:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – The events of the past twenty-four hours are deeply disturbing. Eight years ago, LSU hired Taylor Porter, a preeminent law firm, to conduct an extensive and thorough investigation of allegations lodged at Les Miles. Under the guidance of one of the nation’s leaders in the area of gender discrimination and harassment, Taylor Porter concluded that Coach Miles did not engage in any conduct that constituted sexual harassment and that there were no grounds to discipline Coach Miles. Now, eight years later, LSU, in the wake of enormous pressure from the NCAA for conduct that has nothing to do with Coach Miles, issued a report conducted by Husch Blackwell. The report revealed no new evidence. Indeed, Husch Blackwell did not even bother to interview Coach Miles or many other key witnesses but, instead, second-guessed the Taylor Porter findings and conclusions without providing any basis for doing so. Bending to the winds of media blowback, Kansas has now decided to put Coach Miles on administrative leave. Before the release of the reports this week, Kansas had been provided with significant information supporting Taylor Porter’s conclusions. KU also had performed thorough due diligence before hiring Coach Miles. Kansas’ decision to put Les Miles on administrative leave is both disturbing and unfair. To fail to recognize that a person’s career should not be compromised by unsubstantiated allegations hardly is consistent with the example an institution of higher learning should champion.

This comes after the Husch Blackwell findings of sexual misconduct at LSU while Les Miles was the head football coach.

Athletics Director Jeff Long made the announcement Friday, March 5 in the wake of a report detailing harassment allegations while he was at LSU.

An official statement from Jeff Long:

“The past two days have been the first time that we have had access to either report,” according to Long’s statement, first posted by Benton Smith of KUsports.com. “Even though the allegations against him occurred at LSU, we take these matters very seriously at KU. Now that we have access to this information, we will take the coming days to fully review the material and to see if any additional information is available. Even though the allegations against him occurred at LSU, we take these matters very seriously at KU. Now that we have access to this information, we will take the coming days to fully review the material and to see if any additional information is available. I do not want to speculate on a timeline for our review because it is imperative we do our due diligence. We will be able to comment further once our review is complete.”

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