Sex, Lies & Testimony: LSU's Brian Kelly, AD Scott Woodward Testifying In Long Delayed Sexual Harassment Suit Featuring Alleged Advances by Les Miles And Assistant Frank Wilson

BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU's 2023 football calendar is not over.

You might say overtime is just beginning, when many LSU fans and media members thought this was over.

The football field is now a federal courtroom in downtown Baton Rouge in what could be a significant trial involving the perennially controversial athletic department. Fired associate athletic director for recruiting Sharon Lewis is suing LSU for $50 million in a civil, gender- and race-based sexual harassment lawsuit.

Lawsuit Against LSU Has Found New Life

Originally filed in state court in April of 2021, the case was thought to be dead after state court judge Tim Kelley of Baton Rouge threw it out in 2022 just before retiring last January.

LSU coach Brian Kelly is expected in court as a witness this week or next to testify about the firing of LSU associate athletic director for recruiting Sharon Lewis in January of 2022. (Getty Images)

But it has found new life in the Russell B. Long federal courthouse in Baton Rouge with U.S. district judge Susie Morgan presiding. And LSU football coach Brian Kelly is expected to testify as a witness either this week or next in a trial scheduled for nine days through Dec. 22.

LSU AD Scott Woodward To Testify As A Witness Wednesday

LSU athletic director Scott Woodward is scheduled to testify on Wednesday concerning Kelly's questionable rehiring of former LSU football assistant coach Frank Wilson in December of 2021 and the firing of Sharon Lewis in January of 2022. Interestingly, Woodward has told Lewis' lawyers that Kelly fired Lewis. And Kelly has told Lewis' lawyers that Woodward fired Lewis.

No, it's not over. Not by a long shot. And through two days of witness testimony, LSU appears to be losing.

Judge Morgan is from Winnsboro in less LSU-friendly north Louisiana and normally works in New Orleans in the Eastern District. But all the Baton Rouge area Middle District federal judges recused themselves because of conflicts of interest with LSU and its former legal team of Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips. Some of Taylor Porter's lawyers who represented LSU over the years are included in Lewis' lawsuit. Some in the legal circles of Baton Rouge expected Kelley to recuse himself from Lewis' lawsuit because of ties to Taylor Porter as well.

The Baton Rouge and New Orleans TV stations that usually cover LSU have also basically recused themselves because of lack of interest and the perceived staleness of the story that is nearly in its fourth year. Only the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper and Tiger Rag Magazine (tigerrag.com) have covered the trial along with OutKick.

LSU's Phelps Dunbar legal team of Baton Rouge suffered a rough first day before an all-white jury of six men and three women on Monday. It went 0-for-8 vs. Morgan on objections. Twice, Morgan explained to LSU's lawyers that it is best to wait for the opposing attorney to finish a question to a witness before objecting.

On Tuesday, the Phelps Dunbar team went 0-for-27 on objections and to 0-for-35 overall. Morgan had to counsel LSU's attorneys again to not object to the same thing twice as it would obviously be overruled again.

So far, LSU's defense is playing similar to the LSU football team's defense - poorly. But it is still early.

Fired LSU Associate AD Sharon Lewis Suing For $50 Million

Lewis, a track athlete at LSU in the late 1980s, claims she continuously worked amid a "culture of fear and retaliation" from former head coach Les Miles, present deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry and others at LSU over the last decade. She claims LSU fired her in January of 2022 without cause, and that has ruined her career and caused mental anguish.

Former LSU associate athletic director for recruiting Sharon Lewis seeks $50 million from LSU in a sexual harassment lawsuit. The trial began Monday in federal court in Baton Rouge and is expected to go on for two weeks. (Getty Images).

Lewis, who worked with LSU football recruiting from 2002 through 2021, claims LSU assistant coach Frank Wilson showed her his genitals in her office in 2013 during his previous stint at LSU from 2010-15 as recruiting coordinator.

She says Wilson and Miles repeatedly harassed female student workers in the recruiting offices under Lewis over that span. Lewis says Miles, Ausberry and others retaliated against her when she reported the sexual harassment and more.

"Les Miles threatened to punch Sharon Lewis 'in her mother f-ing face,'" Lewis' attorney Larry English of Shreveport shouted in his opening statement Monday, quoting Miles, according to Lewis. And the jury and crowd abruptly sat up at full attention.

English is expected to ask Woodward on Wednesday about LSU's "failure to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Frank Wilson" before rehiring him, according to English's list of witnesses released to the media on Monday.

The lawsuit delves into how a few LSU officials and members of the Taylor Porter law firm that represented LSU for decades allegedly kept Miles' questionable behavior a secret for several years. Former LSU Board of Supervisors member Stanley Jacobs, himself a lawyer, testified Tuesday and shredded Taylor Porter's representation of LSU. He said he kept quiet about Miles' behavior because the Taylor Porter lawyers mistakenly told him to do so.

LSU fired Miles early in the 2016 season, but that was only because the program slipped on the football field.

Les Miles was LSU's head coach from 2005 until his firing in 2016. He won the national championship in the 2007 season and reached the national title game in the 2011 season. (Getty Images).

Miles "repeatedly pressured Lewis to replace black student workers on her recruiting staff with blonde women or light-skinned black women whom he considered prettier." That quote appeared in an investigation of LSU's handling of sexual allegations by students against football players by the Husch Blackwell firm in 2021. Lewis' lawsuit echoes and corroborates many of Husch Blackwell's findings as Husch Blackwell interviewed her at length for its exhaustive report.

Lewis' suit also details how Miles would allegedly bring female workers to his apartment near Tiger Stadium and tried to kiss one of the young women.

LSU Retaliated Against Sharon Lewis, Lawsuit Says

Miles had been Kansas' head coach in 2019 and '20 before the revelations about his behavior in the spring of 2021. Then Kansas fired him. Lewis' legal team and staff have tried for months to locate the retired Miles, 70, to subpoena him to testify. But they have not been able to find him in Kansas, Baton Rouge or throughout Florida, where Miles has owned homes or presently owns homes or property. He has also been known to visit Cuba.

Former LSU recruiting staff worker Nikole Jessie detailed her encounter with Frank Wilson to Lewis' attorney Larry English as the trial began on Monday.

"In a recruiting meeting in the player personnel office, he (Frank Wilson) came from the side of me as I was writing and forcibly kissed me on the lips," Jessie testified. She began weeping as she recounted the incident. Former LSU director of player personnel Sherman Morris was in the room at the time, Jessie said.

LSU's Frank Wilson 'Forcibly' Kissed Female Worker, Suit Says

"I said (to Wilson), 'Why did you do this?' And I ran down the hallway almost hyperventilating," Jessie said through sobs. "I ran into the bathroom and started scrubbing my lips. It (the kiss) was hard. And he (Wilson) had just like a weird smirking smile on his face."

Former Texas-San Antonio coach Frank Wilson has been an associate head coach at LSU since 2022 and was previously an LSU assistant coach from 2010-15. (Getty Images)

Jessie told Lewis of the incident, who maintains she reported it to Ausberry and other superiors at LSU. But nothing was done about it. Wilson left LSU to become Texas-San Antonio's head coach before the 2016 season. After being fired following the 2019 season, Wilson served as McNeese State's head coach in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 2020 and '21.

Lewis and her attorneys updated her lawsuit to include Wilson shortly after Kelly hired Wilson as an assistant coach at LSU. Kelly had just taken over as LSU's head coach following the 2021 season after leaving Notre Dame. It should be noted that OutKick was the only media entity to ask Kelly about his hire of Wilson with regard to his baggage in the story below. Kelly will field such questions again under oath.

That hiring is expected to be a major part of this trial as it appears Kelly did little or no background check on Wilson. Kelly tapped a coach who has long been known as an excellent recruiter, particularly in his native and talent-rich New Orleans. But the hire came shortly after Husch Blackwell's report on LSU's questionable adherence to Title IX and other human resources regulations. And it was known around the program by young women to steer clear of Wilson.

"Everybody knew how Frank was," a former LSU female athletic department employee told USA TODAY in March of 2022. "It got to a point where we didn’t want any of the girls working with him. I dealt with Frank’s sexual harassment for years, his comments, his behavior. He always made, not only me, but so many of the girls feel so uncomfortable."

LSU's Sexual Harassment And Assault Cases Plentiful

Because of Husch Blackwell's findings, LSU suspended Ausberry and associate athletic director Miriam Segar briefly for looking the other way when students told them of sexual assaults by athletes. Both Ausberry and Segar are on Lewis' attorneys witness list and are expected to testify. So is Wilson.

In Lewis' lawsuit, her attorney English refers to LSU's approach to Title IX as a "capture and kill scheme of Title IX complaints."

With former LSU Title IX coordinator Jennie Stewart on the stand Monday, English established that LSU rerouted Title IX complaints from LSU female students about football players and other athletes away from Stewart and to associate athletic director Miriam Segar, which is against stated policy. Some at LSU have referred to Segar admiringly as "the cleaner."

After repeated questions by English on LSU using Segar as a de facto Title IX director, Stewart finally testified that even LSU's vice president of legal affairs and general counsel Winston DeCuir Jr. joined the "capture and kill scheme." This was when he suggested in a meeting with Stewart that Title IX complaints go to Segar and not the Title IX coordinator.

"He threw out that idea, and I didn't think it was a good one," Stewart said.

"I'll take that," English said.

English revisited that line of questioning Tuesday and got a stronger answer from Stewart concerning DeCuir pointing Title IX complaints away from LSU's Title IX director and to Segar. DeCuir's actions could have broken Department of Education guidelines for schools like LSU that receive public funding. Such schools are expected to make sure its Title IX coordinator be the go-to person for all Title IX violations reporting. Such violations is what LSU said it would stop doing after it received the critical Husch Blackwell report in 2021.

The lawsuit will also examine how Ausberry and LSU Board of Supervisors member Collis Temple Jr. seemingly pushed Kelly to hire Wilson. But neither told Kelly about the accusations against Wilson even though they knew about them, according to Lewis' lawyers.

Brian Kelly Hired Frank Wilson Without Knowing LSU History

No one at LSU told Kelly that Wilson had also been reprimanded by the NCAA in 2012 for meeting with a recruit off campus against NCAA rules. LSU banned him from recruiting off campus at the time for not being "forthright and honest" in his testimony to the NCAA about the violation, according to then-LSU athletic director Joe Alleva. 

LSU president William Tate, football coach Brian Kelly and athletic director Scott Woodward are all expected to testify as witnesses in a $50 million lawsuit against LSU by fired associate athletic director Sharon Lewis. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

Woodward will likely be asked what he knew about Wilson before Kelly hired Wilson.

Lewis' lawyers hope to answer these questions and many more as does LSU's attorney team of Phelps Dunbar of Baton Rouge. English's legal office released a witness list of 27 with a game plan for each. LSU's legal team did not release a witness list.

In addition to the previously mentioned Kelly and Woodward, here are three other key witnesses schedule to take the stand in the coming days:

Witnesses Chosen By Sharon Lewis Legal Team

1. WILLIAM F. TATE, LSU President - Will testify as to LSU's capture and kill scheme of Title IX complaints in LSU athletics, the hiring of Frank Wilson, the failure to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Frank Wilson, the termination of Sharon Lewis, his meeting with Collis Temple Jr. and Frank Wilson at Temple's home before Wilson's rehiring, and LSU's failure to implement mandatory reporting policies as to sexual misconduct.

2. JOE ALLEVA, LSU Athletic Director (2008-19) - Will testify through his attorney as to the concealment of the 2013 Les Miles Title IX investigation and most of the above.

3. VICKI CROCHET, Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips Attorney - Will testify as to the concealment of the 2013 Les Miles Title IX investigation and the authenticity of various emails and documents between her firm and Les Miles' lawyer Peter Ginsberg on concealing Miles investigation and settling student complaints against Miles in 2013, 2020 and '21.

Tammye Ya'el Lofton, the executive assistant to LSU coach Brian Kelly and to previous head coaches including Les Miles, testified Tuesday. But her most salient statement may have been in her deposition to Lewis' lawyers that English used in his opening statement Monday.

"We were all so beat down and caught up in that mess, we didn't realize how bad it was," Lofton said.

He was not given as much time as English, but Phelps Dunbar attorney Michael Victorian's opening comments ridiculed Lewis and her story repeatedly, echoing many LSU fans and some media members.

"The story you just heard sounds like it was made for TV, and in a lot of ways it was," he said. "Sharon Lewis and her attorneys and her publicist pitched her story in the media first. And now she's trying to sell it to you."

Victorian said "publicist" with disdain. He concluded with this:

"The evidence will show that Sharon Lewis' story is built on blind allegations for which she expects to recover millions. That's not just a good story. That's a hustle. Thank you for your time."