Les Miles files lawsuit against LSU over vacated wins, College Football Hall of Fame snub

Les Miles has filed a lawsuit against LSU over the school's decision to vacate 37 wins accrued from 2012-15,  calling it an "an irrational and unfair self-inflicted punishment."

Those 37 vacated wins dropped Miles's career record from 145-73 to 108-73, and his new .597 career winning percentage left him short of the College Football Hall of Fame's threshold of .600 to reach the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.

LSU vacated the wins last June, stemming from an investigation that found former Tigers offensive lineman Vadal Alexander's father was paid $180,150 in embezzled funds from a Baton Rouge children's hospital while his son attended LSU. Alexander played for LSU from 2012-15.

LSU's decision was part of a negotiated settlement through the NCAA Independent Accountability Resolution Panel, in a case that was also focused on former LSU basketball coach Will Wade. LSU previously implemented scholarship reductions and a postseason ban in 2020 due to the Alexander case.

The target of Miles's lawsuit has long been a source of controversy within college football. Howard Schnellenberger has long been cause célèbre for many within the sport; The coach who all but established football at Miami and Louisville and actually did so at Florida Atlantic is not a College Football Hall of Famer, his career .511 winning percentage falling well short of the Hall's .600 threshold. The late Mike Leach is a recent addition to that list after he was left off the most recent ballot; Leach died in December 2022 as an active coach with a .596 winning percentage. 

Miles won one national championship at LSU, two SEC championship and three SEC West crowns, seemingly a shoe-in for inclusion.

However, the irony of the lawsuit is that Miles is no guarantee to reach the College Football Hall of Fame even if his lawsuit is successful. 

Hall criteria requires nomination by a potential candidate's collegiate institution or by the president/executive director of a National Football Foundation chapter. Miles is unlikely to be nominated at threat of legal gunpoint by LSU, leaving Oklahoma State and Kansas. He went 28-21 from 2001-04 at OSU before taking the LSU job in 2005, and his 2-season tenure at Kansas saw the Jayhawks go 3-18. 

Given all that, Miles would likely have to rely on one of the NFF's three Louisiana chapters to make the ballot.

Even if Miles wins his lawsuit to attain eligibility and is nominated by a local chapter, his candidacy would not be guaranteed. Hall candidates "must have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community and his fellow man, with love of his country."

There, the NFF Honors Court would consider allegations of improper behavior with an LSU athletics employee that led the school to deliberate firing him in 2013. Those allegations led to his firing at Kansas.

Miles, 70, has not coached since his ouster at Kansas.

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.