by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
Tomorrow could be a landmark day in LSU history...a day where the past of Louisiana State athletics collides with its future and for all the wrong reasons....except for two important things: 1) justice for the victims & 2) LSU can start the healing process...but first, the Band-Aid must be ripped off and the truth must come out.
On Friday, LSU's brass will learn the results of the Husch-Blackwell investigation, and while it looks like the Les Miles era will be damned in its newfound infamy, Tigers fans are anxious wondering what else could be released.
Did anyone from the current regime have any knowledge of the alleged Title IX violations by Drake Davis, Grant Delpit, Jacob Phillips, Derrius Guice or Ray Parker but failed to report them to the campus' Title IX office?
One name under scrutiny will be LSU Legend Verge Ausberry, one of LSU's all-time great defensive players now serving as the program's Executive Assistant Deputy Athletic Director since summer 2019...however he's been with the program since 2006, well entrenched in the Miles era as Athletic Director Joe Alleva's sideman.
Another name is Recruiting Coordinator Sharon Lewis, a powerhouse on LSU's support staff who's been a key member of the program for some time now. I was surprised to see her name in the reports and am still conflicted as to whether she did anything wrong, although there is evidence that she received multiple Title IX reports and nothing happened as a result, with no record of anything being reported.
I will not proclaim to know everything legally about this case...yet as much as I've read everything that's currently (un)available to the public, there's nothing that quite tells the story than the victims' first hand experiences.
The pattern I sense from the victims' testimonies, and there aren't many patterns experience to experience, but there's always one clear, final result: a series of allegedly careless, negligent, disinterested, at times downright dismissive responses from those in positions of authority at LSU after being told about alleged rapes, violence against women... or even an alleged harassment against a student from the head coach of the football team...and when talking about the women's tennis program, there was a feast of reports concerning former coaches Julia & Michael Sell's alleged victim-shaming.
This could be a serious day of reckoning for many who kept their mouths shut while women were damaged by disgusting "men"...
...."men" who hid behind the purple and gold and used it as a shield to protect themselves from the consequences of their crimes....and it's also about the people who helped them and why.
Make no mistake about it, these are the most disgraceful kinds of crimes against women and against Louisiana State University that I can think of....and our former head coach Les Miles wasn't just involved in a cover-up...he was directly harassing students...physically...literally...in his car, at night, parked behind the athletic building....kissing female student assistants...demanding that the student "hostesses" be "blonde and fit" as well as interviewed by Miles himself...and trust me, the stories are just going to keep coming.
From the peek LSU Odyssey has seen, the stories for Les Miles will only get worse from here, actually....and tomorrow, there could be a case of dodging proverbial bullets for the present Tigers' athletic department.
May the silent get what's coming to them, whoever they may be.
Do I believe Coach Ed Orgeron is involved?
No I don't, in fact from the Ed Ingram situation I highlighted in the past, I feel the man has no reason to cover-up a player's assault on a woman. In fact, I feel Coach Orgeron demands the same of every single member of his staff....I can't say I ever really felt the same confidence level with Les Miles on those subjects.
If we find out tomorrow Coach O was also involved, I'll be flabbergasted after viewing the paperwork, the dates, the times, the signatures, the reports...
From all appearances, Coach O takes violence against women seriously & I am saying here and now I very much doubt Coach O is implicated tomorrow or any day after.
But if you told me in 2011 that Les Miles was assaulting his female students, my young gun vibe would've taken you to verbal task.
It's all so surreal...
What does it all mean?
We'll find out tomorrow.
by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
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