LSU has vacated all of its football wins from the 2012-2015 seasons after being found guilty of violations by the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Panel. The Tigers will now lose 37 of their victories, including two bowl wins because former offensive lineman Vadal Alexander was ineligible for his entire time on the team’s roster.
Coach Les Miles via USA Today YouTube
The team will also be on probation for the next three years, as will LSU’s basketball program for their own missteps. However, the school has not been banned from the postseason or found to have a lack of institutional control – which would have led to much more severe consequences.
According to the NCAA‘s release, multiple violations occurred, outside of Alexander’s inclusion on the team. For example, in 2012 a representative of LSU’s athletics interests paid the father of a recruit a total of $180,150 over a five-year span as part of an embezzlement scheme. The athlete enrolled at LSU and competed from 2012-16. This, along with Level II and III violations led to the governing body laying down the law.
There was another bit of collateral damage that came out of the Tigers’ punishment. With those 37 wins from the Les Miles era now wiped out, the former Bayou Bengals coach is now no longer eligible for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Miles’ official record is now 108-73 (.597). Candidates for enshrinement must have a minimum of a .600 career win percentage in order to even be eligible. Miles coached at Kansas in the 2019-2020 season but was let go when allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced from his time at LSU
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Louisiana State had self-imposed some penalties to both their basketball and football programs back in 2022, in an effort to circumvent a much harsher ruling. Despite the university levying these mandates on themselves, the NCAA’s investigative body felt that they hadn’t done enough.
“The more than five-year enforcement process involving LSU’s men’s basketball and football programs has now come to an end,” the university’s leadership said in a statement. “LSU has always taken compliance with NCAA rules seriously, and the institution fully cooperated with the NCAA enforcement staff and then with members of the Complex Case Unit as part of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process.”
“We are pleased that our current men’s basketball student-athletes will not be punished for the acts of others and that the Independent Resolution Panel accepted our self-imposed penalties for football. We are grateful to the members of the panel for their time and fairness. LSU is now moving forward along with our passionate fans supporting our current coaches and student-athletes in both men’s basketball and football.”