Angel Reese and the LSU women’s basketball team will certainly be the talk of the town this fall after the LSU football and men’s basketball programs must pay penalties following the ruling from the NCAA that was announced this week. After a review of violations from the NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Panel, the Tigers will vacate wins from 2012-15, among other stiff penalties.
Former LSU wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. also is being sanctioned for his actions on the team’s sideline during the 2019 season’s national championship game.
Banned
The Tigers will vacate a total of 37 wins, including two bowl game victories, because former offensive lineman Vadal Alexander was found to be ineligible his entire college career. The school imposed this penalty and others on itself when it self-reported violations to the NCAA in 2020, but many were not revealed until the NCAA’s announcement of its findings on Thursday, June 22.
Nola.com reports that Alexander’s father was paid $180,150 in funds embezzled by the former head of the Our Lady of the Lake Foundation John Paul Funes.
Funes offered employment to Alexander’s mother at an Our Lady of the Lake hospital and his father employment at the foundation. It was reported that his father only worked five events for the foundation but received payments for five years.
According to Yahoo Sports, Funes pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges in 2019. He was accused of misusing nearly $800,000 from the Our Lady of the Lake hospital system’s fundraising system.
Alexander went on to play four years at LSU. He was a four-star recruit from the Atlanta suburb of Buford in the class of 2012. He started every game as a freshman and was named to the Freshman All-SEC team. In 2015, he was named an All-SEC selection and second-team All-American. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL draft by the Raiders but only played two seasons in the NFL.
As for Beckham, the school has banned him for two years from LSU facilities because he handed out cash to players on the sidelines during his alma mater’s 42-25 victory over Clemson on Jan. 13, 2020, in the national championship game.
The Tigers are currently on probation for recruiting violations committed by former offensive line coach James Cregg. They were previously serving a three-year violation.
The Coaches
The head coach of the LSU Tigers during the 2012-2015 football seasons was Les Miles, and with the NCAA accepting LSU offer to vacate victories, the school’s self-imposed punishment becomes a stiff punishment to him as well. He was fired by Kansas after the 2019-20 season for allegations of sexual misconduct with female students while he was at LSU. The 37 wins that were vacated makes Miles ineligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. It took his overall record from 145-73 (.665) to 108-73 (.597). Coaches must have a minimum win percentage of .600 to be eligible.
Former men’s basketball head Will Wade was handed down a 10-game suspension by the NCAA. He is currently the head coach at McNeese State. The LSU men’s basketball program will serve a three-year probation for recruiting violations under Wade.
Both programs lost scholarships from self-imposed punishments. The football program will lost eight scholarships and the basketball program lost three.
