As Federal Athletics Reform Stalls, SEC Flexes on LSU

The Louisiana State University Tigers stormed to a blowout win on the football field in week one, only to lose days later to the Southeastern Conference in a fight over player eligibility.

The high-stakes fight pitted college presidents who lead the conference against each other as members sought to enforce the conference’s rules and accused LSU of losing control over its football coach. As colleges grapple with shifting and uncertain rules, the fight is the latest example of how conferences are aiming to assert their power to govern athletics.

Last week, the Southeastern Conference sued LSU officials over plans to add two former NFL players to its roster, a quirk created by a legal challenge to NCAA efforts to overhaul eligibility that opened the door for several student athletes to return to the collegiate game. (The two athletes were not drafted, signed with NFL teams, then were cut before playing in a regular-season game.) The SEC said Tuesday it was planning to vote this week on whether expel LSU for violating conference rules, which explicitly prohibits athletes from returning to college sports after playing in professional leagues.

But in the face of mounting scrutiny, LSU blinked.

LSU football coach Lane Kiffin ultimately didn’t add Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to the 105-man roster Tuesday after leaving spots open last week.

The SEC had warned LSU that it would break conference rules by adding Wright and Harris and had requested an injunction that would allow the conference to move forward with potential action against LSU. But a Wednesday hearing on the issue was rescheduled suddenly, though court records did not provide an explanation for the change or set a future date.

When the SEC sued LSU last week, it did so on First Amendment grounds.

The conference noted in legal filings that the rules affirmed by all 16 members, including LSU, prohibit former professional players from joining SEC teams. The SEC alleged that the Tigers had conspired to violate those rules by engaging in a campaign to recruit former professionals who played for Kiffin at the University of Mississippi before the NFL. In defying those rules, the conference argued LSU violated its “expressive association rights” under the First Amendment.

“The SEC brings this action to vindicate its First Amendment right of expressive association, i.e. its right not to be forced to associate its competitions, brand, and championships with conduct that it has expressly condemned since the SEC’s founding,” attorneys wrote in the legal filing.

The conference also argued in its initial filing that LSU’s conduct created a “competitive imbalance” among member schools and “disrupted the settled expectations of student-athletes” elsewhere, “who relied on the rules governing roster composition and competitive fairness.” Those student athletes, the SEC warned, “now face the prospect of being displaced” by pros.

In a message to Inside Higher Ed, LSU President Wade Rousse pressed the need for college athletics reform.

“College football does not deserve this kind of ambiguity in eligibility standards. This is just another illustration that Congress needs to pass a version of the Protect College Sports Act,” Rousse said in a statement shared with Inside Higher Ed on Tuesday afternoon. (The same statement was released last week.)

The Protect College Sports Act is bipartisan legislation that would impose some restrictions on conference realignment, student transfers and in-season coaching changes, plus introduce a suite of other changes. The Senate punted on a reform effort last month, but lawmakers could vote on the bill in the next few weeks.

LSU declined to provide additional comment on Tuesday and Wednesday and told Inside Higher Ed to submit a public records request for the letter Rousse sent to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. In a copy of that letter obtained by another reporter, Rousse confirmed that LSU will not place Wright or Harris on the roster, has “complied with SEC rules” and the issue is now “moot.” SEC officials did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Beyond the SEC, LSU also faced a torrent of political pressure as state lawmakers across the Southeast signaled their support for the conference. However, elected officials in the Pelican State lined up behind LSU, including U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, who blasted SEC officials in a statement.

“Throwing LSU out of the SEC would be bone-deep-down-to-the-marrow-stupid. Rocks in my driveway are smarter than that. What planet did the leaders at the SEC just parachute in from? Those people need to change their meds,” Kennedy wrote in a post on X.

Kennedy added that the clash over the two players reflected the necessity of “commonsense eligibility rules” and that “the Senate needs to put an end to this chaos when we return.”

The SEC lawsuit marks the second time this year that an athletic conference has sued one of its own members. In June, the Big 12 sued Texas Tech University in federal court over plans to play quarterback Brendan Sorsby after a judge cleared a path for him to return to the Red Raiders following the NCAA’s decision that he was for wagering on professional and collegiate sports.

College sports attorney Mit Winter said those lawsuits reflect a shift in conference thinking.

Winter is skeptical that the SEC would kick out LSU—a move that would come with significant financial losses for the university—but he said the intent seemed to be to send the message that the conference can self-govern and will enforce rules against its members.

“A number of conferences, including the SEC, have been talking about if the NCAA can’t enforce its rules, then we’re just going to have to go to self-governance, and we’re going to have to take over enforcement of rules that govern college athletics, at least for our member schools,” Winter said.

While LSU appeared to reach a détente with the SEC, Winter suspects this isn’t the end of internecine fighting between conferences and member institutions seeking a competitive edge. But as conferences lean into self-governance, and with SEC sending a strong message on how far it will go to punish rule breakers, Winter believes others will be wary of putting up a similar fight.

“If you’re an institution, you probably don’t want to get in a situation like that with your conference,” he said. “I don’t think it made LSU look very good, to be honest, and I don’t think any other schools are going to see any benefit to trying to challenge their conference like this.”