Embroiled in an ongoing controversy over sexual assault allegations and its response, Louisiana State University is in the process of banning star running back Derrius Guice indefinitely from the athletics program, with plans to remove his statistics from the school record books. an LSU spokesman confirmed to ESPN Friday.
The university is also cutting ties with its longtime law firm, Taylor Porter.
As reported by ESPN's Heather Dinich, the decisions are part of sweeping changes LSU is making in response to a March report from another law firm, Husch Blackwell, which detailed systemic failures by LSU to appropriately report incidents of athletic-related sexual misconduct and abuse.
Related: Report: LSU Ignored Assault Claims Against Athletes
Guice was charged in three separate domestic violence incidents in 2020, and two women accused him of sexual assault while he was a freshman in 2016. A third LSU student alleged in 2016 that Guice had taken a partially nude photo of her without her knowledge and showed the pictures to his teammates. He was also accused of harassing a 74-year-old woman who was employed by the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Related: Grandmother Recalls Lack of LSU Harassment Response
According to Taylor Porter's 2013 internal investigation on behalf of LSU, then head football coach Les Miles was accused of contacting female students via Facebook and text, meeting them off campus alone and kissing at least one of them. According to the report, Miles strongly denied kissing the student and said he didn't do anything wrong and that he was mentoring young women at the university. Miles, now the head coach at Kansas, has denied any misconduct.
The Husch Blackwell report revealed that former LSU athletic director Joe Alleva recommended in 2013 that Miles be fired as head coach of the football program after the accusations of inappropriate behavior with female student workers.
According to a copy of the 2013 Taylor Porter report, which was obtained in March by ESPN, only three of the 16 LSU board members were involved in and informed of the process. According to the report, those present "agreed that this was appropriate administrative action that could and should be taken without further review by the full board," ESPN's Dinich reported.
