SEC Sets Thursday Vote on Expelling LSU Over Lane Kiffin's NFL-Player Roster Fight

Since Louisiana district judge William Jorden's preliminary injunction last Thursday cleared two former NFL players to join LSU's roster, this fight has gone from a courtroom sideshow to a full-blown threat against LSU's membership in the Southeastern Conference.

The SEC filed an amended complaint Tuesday morning in federal court in Alabama, according to Football Scoop and NOLA.com. The filing sets a Thursday, September 10 meeting where the conference's 16 university presidents will vote on whether to terminate LSU's membership. Per NOLA.com, SEC rules require a two-thirds vote of all CEOs to expel a school.

What triggered this

The dispute traces back to the NCAA's pivot to a new five-year eligibility model in June, according to Field Level Media. That model did not grandfather in tight end Dae'Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris, two players who had already used four years of college eligibility. Both signed NFL contracts, Wright with Cleveland and Harris with New Orleans, before being cut in August, per Football Scoop.

Wright and Harris sued for a fifth year of eligibility. East Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden granted a preliminary injunction covering 42 athletes across multiple sports, temporarily barring the SEC and NCAA from enforcing rules that would keep them off the field, according to Field Level Media.

LSU held both players out of its September 5 season opener against Clemson, which the Tigers won 51-10, according to NOLA.com. But head coach Lane Kiffin couldn't resist commenting. In a halftime interview with ABC, Kiffin said, "Imagine if we had pro players," referencing the absent Wright and Harris. He later told reporters he'd personally fought to sign both players because he believed it was "right for those kids."

"My job is what I believe is right, and I believe we were fighting for what was right for those kids," Kiffin said, according to NOLA.com. "Maybe if they knew my relationship with Dae'Quan, they'd think a little different."

The SEC's case against LSU

The SEC's complaint says its presidents and chancellors met September 4 and expressed "great concern" that LSU president Wade Rousse and athletic director Verge Ausberry have "no meaningful control" over Kiffin, according to Fox News. The filing calls Kiffin's comments evidence of "complete lack of institutional control" required under Article 6 of the SEC Constitution.

The amended complaint also adds new defendants: LSU's entire Board of Supervisors, including chair Lee Mallett, and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, according to NOLA.com. The SEC alleges Murrill "deployed the official powers" of her office to help LSU force the conference to associate with conduct the SEC says violates its own rules. That's an allegation in a court filing, not a finding by any court, and Murrill's office has not been quoted responding to it in the available reporting.

The SEC is also seeking a temporary restraining order to stop LSU officials from interfering with Thursday's meeting, per Field Level Media.

Commissioner Greg Sankey has framed the conference's position around governance, not any individual player. "The line between professional sports and college sports needs to be maintained," Sankey said, according to Football Scoop.

LSU's side

An attorney representing the players told Football Scoop the fight isn't really about the coach or the school. "It's not about coach Kiffin. It's not about LSU. It's about treating these kids fairly," the attorney said.

Wright and Harris played out their college eligibility under the old rules, got squeezed out of a new model that didn't apply to their class, tried the NFL, got cut, and now a judge has twice sided with them on returning to school. If the NCAA rewired eligibility rules in a way that left an entire high school class in limbo, the players' argument that they're just trying to finish what they started has merit.

The SEC's counter is that this isn't about one team gaining an edge with two players. It's about a conference's authority to set and enforce rules for all its members, especially when a state attorney general starts using government power to help one school route around them. If any school can lean on a favorable state court judge or an ally in the AG's office to override league rules, the conference argues, membership rules mean nothing.

What happens next

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported, and Larry Brown Sports and Football Scoop both note, that the SEC isn't actually expected to expel LSU on Thursday. The filing looks designed to establish the conference's legal authority to act, not to actually pull the trigger. Football Scoop's own account carried a blunt aside from its account: "the SEC is not kicking LSU out of the conference."

Still unresolved: whether Judge Jorden's injunction survives any appeal, whether the SEC's presidents even take a formal vote Thursday or simply authorize further legal action, and whether Wright and Harris actually take the field as scheduled when LSU visits Ole Miss on September 19. If they do, and the SEC hasn't secured a higher court ruling by then, the conference's leverage argument gets a lot weaker in a hurry.