The conference asks a court to clear the way
The SEC escalated its fight with LSU this morning. The conference filed an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against Louisiana State University, head football coach Lane Kiffin and school officials, and it now seeks the authority to expel LSU outright.
The filing sets out a meeting of SEC presidents and chancellors on Thursday to decide whether to terminate LSU’s membership. Conference rules demand a favourable vote from at least two thirds of all university presidents to remove a school.
The SEC also asked for a temporary restraining order barring LSU officials or their lawyers from taking any action to interfere with that meeting.
“The SEC and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon governance procedures, the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed,” the conference said in a statement. “Today’s filing is necessary to defend that right and preserve the Conference’s ability to govern competition among its members.”
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Kiffin’s halftime line lands in the complaint
The SEC accuses LSU of a “demonstrated lack of institutional control at the university level-including complete lack of control over Coach (Lane) Kiffin’s actions.” It cites what Kiffin told an ABC sideline reporter at halftime of Saturday’s game against Clemson, with LSU leading 31-3 on the way to a 51-10 win.
“Imagine if we had pro players,” Kiffin said, pointing at the absences of tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris.
Those remarks, the conference wrote, “stand in sharp contrast to the silence by the President and Athletic Director of LSU” and confirm a breach of Article 6 of the SEC Constitution.
Two players, 42 athletes, one injunction
Wright and Harris both signed NFL contracts before trying to return to college. Wright joined the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent, went to the Cleveland Browns on waivers and was waived again. Harris signed with the New Orleans Saints and was cut in early August. Both played under Kiffin at Ole Miss last season.
Louisiana district court judge William Jorden granted a preliminary injunction last Thursday that cleared the pair to play. The ruling covers 42 athletes across multiple sports and temporarily blocks the SEC and the NCAA from enforcing rules that would keep them out under the new 5-for-5 eligibility system.
The SEC had already armed commissioner Greg Sankey with penalties for schools that add players who signed NFL contracts: a half-season suspension for the head coach and a fine worth half the school’s football budget. The membership approved that measure 15-0. LSU abstained.
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