Les Miles Was Banned From Interacting With Female Students at LSU After 2013 Probe (UPDATED)

by Megan Turner about 8 hours agoupdated about 8 hours ago 5

Former LSU head football coach Les Miles was accused of taking female students to his condo alone and on at least one occasion, kissing a student and suggesting they go to a hotel after telling her he could help her career.

But if you ask Miles, he was simply mentoring young women at the university.

Either way, The Athletic is now reporting that former LSU athletic director Joe Avella recommended in 2013 that Miles be fired. At the time, Avella indicated public opinion would favor such as move, The Athletic added.

The investigation conducted by an outside law firm on behalf of LSU did not find that Miles had sexual relationships with any of the women, but that his behavior was inappropriate, an internal investigative report released by LSU on Thursday details.

Miles strongly denied kissing the girl, according to the report that USA Today sued the university to obtain.

The report states he was accused of texting female student workers on a burner phone, driving them alone to his condo and kissing a student on at least one occasion.

The student told investigators that Miles reportedly suggested prior to kissing her, "that they go to a hotel together" and mentioned his condo as another meeting place — he complimented her on her appearance and said he was attracted to her.

According to the investigative report, athletic department staff also accused Miles of saying that the female student workers who helped the football team bring in top recruits needed to have a certain look: blonde and fit.

The report details that he wanted the current student employees who did not meet these criteria to be given fewer hours or terminated.

Miles' attorney, Peter Ginsberg, said the coach continues to deny the allegations and hopes the release of the report puts an end to the "baseless, inaccurate media reports."

"As the report concludes, the allegation that Coach Miles attempted to kiss the woman was supported by no evidence and warranted no discipline: 'We do not believe under existing law and the terms of the contract there is cause to discipline and/or terminate' Coach Miles," Ginsberg's statement said.

The report's findings conclude, "we are unable to determine what occurred" in Miles' car, where the woman said Miles had kissed her twice, and the former coach "can be disciplined only in very limited circumstances."

He was issued a letter of reprimand and LSU required him to sign forms stating that he had read and understood the school's policies a result of the investigation's findings — the 2013 report released on Thursday appears to show just how far the university was willing to go to keep this behind closed doors.

Miles was told specifically he was no longer allowed to have student employees perform "personal work" like babysitting or running errands and was banned from communicating with student employees of the athletic department in any capacity, the report states.

Miles, now the coach at the University of Kansas, was previously named National Coach of the Year in 2011. He served as LSU's head football coach from 2005 to 2016, where he led the Tigers to the national championship game twice and won once in 2007.

The University of Kansas hired Miles in November 2018 without knowledge of the allegations, USA Today reports.

Kansas spokesman Dan Beckler said the school was reviewing the newly released report and awaiting the findings of the Husch Blackwell investigation.

"Due to the ongoing litigation, KU was not provided a copy of the Taylor Porter report prior to its publication in the USA Today article," Beckler said. "We are in the process of reviewing the 34-page document. We are also aware that LSU is issuing an additional report tomorrow, and we will wait to comment further until we have reviewed both documents."

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