Kansas has left head coach Les Miles on administrative leave and the university will conduct a full review to determine the right steps for its future, Jayhawks athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement Friday night.
The decision came after reports of Miles’ behavior while training at LSU in 2013 were made public this week.
“Although the allegations against him occurred at LSU, we take these matters very seriously at KU,” Long said in the statement. “Now that we have access to this information, it will take us the next few days to fully review the material and see if any additional information is available. I do not want to speculate on a timeline for our review because it is imperative to do our due diligence.”
On Thursday, a report released on behalf of LSU showed that a 2013 internal investigation at the school accused Miles of inappropriate behavior toward students, including allegations that he contacted some via Facebook and text messages. , met them off campus and kissed at least one of them. The report did not find him having sex with any of the women and Miles firmly denied kissing the student, saying he was not doing anything wrong and that he was advising young women in college.
Law firm Taylor Porter conducted the investigation on behalf of LSU. Miles’ lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, told ESPN on Thursday that his results “should put an end to unfounded and inaccurate media reports that coach Les Miles participated in an inappropriate touch by a student volunteer at the Department of Athletics eight years ago. “
On Friday, a second report, conducted by law firm Husch Blackwell, detailed LSU’s systemic failures to adequately report incidents of athletic misconduct and sexual abuse. Part of that report showed that former LSU athletic director Joe Alleva recommended in 2013 that Miles be fired as a coach because of the aforementioned allegations of misconduct with students.
Miles was not at the KU football offices on Friday. The Jayhawks hired him in November 2018, signing him to a five-year contract at the time.
Miles, 67, is 3 to 18 years old in his first two seasons in Kansas, including 0-9 in 2020. The Jayhawks ’only Big 12 win during those two seasons surpassed Texas Tech in 2019. Kansas last won more than three games in a season in 2009.
Long and Miles worked together in Michigan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before Long hired him at KU, Miles had been off the coach for parts of three seasons after being fired by LSU in 2016.
Mike DeBord, who was hired last month as Kansas offensive coordinator, will oversee the program with Miles on leave, sources told ESPN.