What has been the fallout from the Kansas University (KU) hiring and firing of its football coach Les Miles? Miles’ departure came three days after he was put on administrative leave after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced from his prior employer, Louisiana State University (LSU). These allegations were reported in an internal investigation report completed by the law firm of Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips LLP, Taylor Porter, during his tenure at LSU. The allegations in the report were quite damning with a remedy which included a requirement that Miles could not be alone with any female students or employees. Over several blog posts this week, I will be looking at the entire imbroglio and mining it for lessons that the compliance practitioner can put into place. I began with the KU decision to hire Miles. Yesterday, I considered the less than adequate due diligence performed by KU. Today I want to look at the fallout from KU’s failures, LSU’s conduct and Miles actions.
Every senior executive hire is critical and the types of missteps seen in this matter can be catastrophic. Candice Tal, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Infortal Worldwide, has consistently warned that bad senior executive hires can cost a company much more than simply dollars. She has stated, the “financial costs in day-to-day operations easily can quadruple that of a regular employee, but it can also impact the company’s corporate governance and board of directors if that executive hire was found to be involved with unethical and illegal activities. Not even a signed contract can protect a company if an executive hire’s unethical actions come to the attention of the national media. Fiduciary risk and exposure for the board of directors cannot be overlooked.”
She pointed to the example of Yahoo! and its hire of Scott Thompson. It turned out that Thompson had incorrect information on his online biography regarding his academic credentials. The “implications went beyond the activist shareholder accusations to reflect on the Board of Directors for not vetting his background more carefully. The company may have been exposed to claims of providing false information to the SEC and potential stockholder lawsuits. Thompson’s 120-day tenure at Yahoo! cost the company over $7 million and seriously tarnished the company’s reputation in the business community.” Now we have the examples of KU and their hiring of Miles.
KU and its now former Athletic Director (AD) Jeff Long, parted ways two days after Miles was fired. Chris Low, writing in ESPN, reported on the Thursday after Miles was let go on the Monday, Long was released by KU. Long said in a “statement that the KU student-athletes have always been the priority and “this decision today is based on that very premise. … It is clear that my continued service as the Director of Athletics would only serve as a distraction to the nearly 500 incredible young men and women in our athletics department, as well as to the outstanding coaches and staff who support them.”” Long’s failures were numerous and we have detailed them. Suffice to say it will quite a long time before any university hires Long again. Adam Rittenberg, also writing in ESPN, noted that the institutional dysfunction and hiring of Miles was doomed from the start.
But Long was not the only person who was forced out by this mess. Consider the former President of LSU, who coincidently is the now former President of Oregon State University (OSU), F. King Alexander. Ross Dellenger reported that the then LSU AD Joe Alleva recommended he be fired, for cause. But Heather Dinch, writing in ESPN, reported “Alexander has said that he was advised by attorneys not to fire Miles and that he was unable to dismiss him because the LSU governing board had made the decision to retain Miles before Alexander took office.” Whatever the reason, Alexander overruled Alleva.
Now Alexander has resigned as the President of OSU. Earlier this week, King released a statement which said, in part, ““I understand that the power of my position requires more from me to do everything I can to ensure the university is free from sexual violence and violence in all forms,” he said in the video. “I know that there was more I could have done at LSU given the power of my office and the expectation of community members. As university president, I should have sought every opportunity to hold others accountable.”” It is obvious during his tenure at LSU he was not.
Miles for his part, maintained that all the allegations made against him at LSU were and still are false. During the putative KU hiring process, he told AD Long that there was nothing in his past which would negatively impact his role as KU head coach. After the story broke, Miles reiterated he “did nothing wrong”. It is hard to believe someone would actually believe such blatant lies but after the Trump Administration, lying has become a way of life for many. But for Miles the reality is that he will never be hired as a college head coach again. Furthermore, any university or college which even offered a job to AD Miles would have its student body, faculty Senate and alums up in arms.
Perhaps the final word should come from the OSU Board of Trustees. As reported by Sam Cooper, writing in Yahoo.com, “the members [of the Board] determined that “rebuilding trust is no longer possible.”” Additionally, the university’s Faculty Senate voted 108-4 in favor of Alexander’s resignation.
“After listening to and hearing important input from diverse members of our community and reflecting on our own values and experiences, we now know that rebuilding trust is no longer possible,” the Board of Trustees statement says.
“In response, over the weekend, the Board scheduled to meet this morning as we learned President Alexander no longer had the confidence of the OSU community. This broken trust was expressed not only by the vote of the Faculty Senate but by an outpouring of thoughtful statements from students, alumni and survivors of sexual assault.”
Tomorrow, the dénouement.
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