The SEC has amended its federal lawsuit against LSU, seeking the authority to expel the school from the conference. SEC CEOs are scheduled to meet Thursday to decide whether to terminate LSU as a member institution.
Tiger Rag Editor Glenn Guilbeau says he thinks cooler heads will prevail before Thursday.
“It’s possible that it could happen; but I think it’s a bunch of BS from the SEC office. I think they’re just angry. I think Greg Sankey is being overly emotional and angry,” Guilbeau said.
Guilbeau pointed out that LSU never actually broke the SEC’s rule, and other schools are still in the conference after actual violations.
The federal lawsuit was filed last week in northern Alabama, alleging that LSU’s recruitment of Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, who both signed NFL contracts this summer, violated the SEC’s First Amendment right to govern itself. The players did win a preliminary injunction to return without penalties, but LSU did not list them on its roster for the Clemson game, per the SEC’s rule.
LSU Athletic Director Verge Ausberry told Guaranty Media in an interview before the injunction ruling that the program has no intention of breaking SEC rules.
“We haven’t gone out there and said we’re going to break the rules of the SEC and the NCAA. We’ve never done that and never will do that; but we will challenge things and ask questions about things. I think that’s how we have to do that,” Ausberry said.
Attorney General Liz Murrill and LSU’s entire board of supervisors were added as defendants in the lawsuit alongside Ausberry, president Wade Rousse and football coach Lane Kiffin. Murrill filed an amicus brief supporting the athletes’ return in the preliminary injunction hearing last week but says she has no idea what claim they could be making against her or her office.
Murrill was on with WWL Radio’s Newell Normand when news broke that she was added as a defendant to the SEC’s lawsuit against LSU and coach Lane Kiffin.
“First they were hating on Lane Kiffin, and he was like the devil (laughing); he’s the evil conspirator that put this all in motion and ignored the actual students whose lives are affected. And now they’ve sued me. I’m not really sure why,” Murrill said.
A two-thirds vote of the 16 schools is required to remove LSU from the conference.
“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 SEC said in a statement. “A commitment to those rules, and to the core principles of the Southeastern Conference, is an essential element of SEC membership.
“Today’s filing is necessary to defend that right and preserve the Conference’s ability to govern competition among its members.”
