What did Les Miles do? Why LSU vacated wins by former Tigers coach, costing him

The NCAA on Thursday issued its ruling regarding several recruiting violations by LSU’s men’s basketball and football teams.

Both programs received a lump penalty — three years probation — because they went through the NCAA’s Independent Resolution Panel. Neither was hit with a lack of institutional control charge or postseason ban.

Former basketball coach Will Wade, now at McNeese, also received a 10-game suspension and two-year show-cause penalty. But the person most impacted in the process is former LSU football coach Les Miles, who has not been associated with the program since 2016.

As part of an attempt to mitigate NCAA penalties, LSU vacated 37 wins during Miles’ tenure. The NCAA fully accepted LSU football’s self-imposed penalty, among others, meaning the wins he accrued in those seasons were vacated (not forfeited). As a result, the NCAA officially recognizes LSU as having gone 0-14 from 2012 through 2015.

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Why does that matter? Because with those wins vacated, Miles is no longer eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. Here’s everything you need to know about the NCAA’s proceedings, how it affects Miles, and why he’s no longer a hall of fame-eligible coach:

What did Les Miles do?

LSU self-imposed several penalties — including the 37 vacated wins — after former offensive lineman Vadal Alexander was found to be ineligible during his time with the program from 2012 through 2015.

Though Miles wasn’t explicitly mentioned as part of the panel’s decision, the violation — a Level I infraction — occurred during his tenure, hence the vacated wins.

According to the panel’s decision, as reported by The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.), Alexander was ineligible to play because his father received $180,150 in embezzled funds from John Paul Funes, the former head of Our Lady of the Lake Foundation of Baton Rouge.

Funes also offered Alexander’s mother a job at the namesake hospital, while his father received recurring payments for five years despite working no more than five events. The panel determined LSU did not properly monitor Funes and his involvement with the team.

“The institution (LSU) did not become aware of, nor report, (Alexander’s) ineligibility to the NCAA until November 2018,” the NCAA’s case document stated, “and (Funes) continued to be a representative of athletics interests until Oct. 1, 2020.”

The NCAA only enacted a three-year probationary period on the program. It will begin in September following a one-year probation stemming from separate recruiting violations committed by former offensive line coach James Cregg.

The NCAA said its decision for a three-year probation was influenced by the Tigers’ own self-imposed penalties over the last three years. Apart from the vacated wins, those include a postseason ban in 2020; reduction of eight football scholarships; and limitation on official and…