The Southeastern Conference is suing one of its own founding members, and on Thursday, September 10, the league’s presidents and chancellors will vote on whether to throw LSU out of the conference entirely. Terminating a member requires a two thirds majority under Section 3.1.5 of the SEC Constitution and Bylaws. It has never happened to a school like this. Here is where the case actually stands.
| Who is suing whom | The SEC against LSU, its Board of Supervisors and Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill |
| Where | Federal court in Birmingham, Alabama |
| What the SEC wants now | A restraining order stopping LSU from blocking or interfering with Thursday’s meeting |
| The other case | Players against the NCAA and SEC in Baton Rouge, where the players won |
| On the roster today | No former pro. LSU closed at 105 without Wright or Harris |
How It Got Here
Lane Kiffin, in his first season at LSU, went after players who had signed with NFL teams as undrafted rookies last spring and then wanted a fifth year of college eligibility. Tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, both former Ole Miss players who had played for Kiffin, were the central names.
The SEC moved fast. Presidents and athletic directors adopted a policy barring member schools from rostering athletes who signed pro contracts or appeared on pro rosters. The penalty package passed 15-0, with LSU abstaining: a half season suspension for an offending head coach, a fine equal to 50 percent of the sport’s operating budget, and loss of SEC voting rights. Greg Sankey was given the power to enforce it.
Then the players went to court in Baton Rouge and won. Judge William Jorden granted a preliminary injunction barring the NCAA and the SEC from punishing schools that played the named plaintiffs. Sankey had testified that rules against former professionals returning have existed since at least 1911, and that the NFL is not a recruiting ground for college football.
LSU still left both players off the 105 man roster it submitted, holding two spots open through the weekend and then filling them Tuesday with Aiden Anding and Gabriel Reliford. An LSU official told the Associated Press that no player who spent time with an NFL club is on the roster.
What the Amended Complaint Says
The SEC amended its federal complaint on Tuesday, September 8. Three things changed.
It added LSU’s Board of Supervisors and Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill as defendants. Murrill had publicly called the original suit legal garbage, and Governor Jeff Landry had backed the players. It asked for a temporary restraining order preventing LSU from blocking or interfering with Thursday’s meeting. And it disclosed that the meeting is a vote on termination.
The filing also leans on Kiffin’s own words. It cites his halftime remark to an ABC sideline reporter during LSU’s 51-10 win over Clemson, that the score might have been more lopsided had Wright and Harris been allowed to play, while both were practicing with the team but off the roster.
The Sankey Declaration
The most revealing document is Sankey’s own sworn declaration. It describes a meeting of the presidents on Friday, September 4, where the consensus was that LSU’s continued membership would be inconsistent with the stated values and principles of the conference, and that this would hold true even if LSU never actually put the former pros on the field.
The declaration cites a lack of institutional control, and says LSU president Wade Rousse and athletic director Verge Ausberry do not have meaningful control over Kiffin. Every president except Rousse called for Thursday’s meeting. Sankey also noted the two roster spots LSU held open through the weekend, reading them as evidence that the school intended to add the players.
That is the argument in a sentence: this is no longer about two tight ends and a defensive tackle. It is about whether a member school will follow a rule its peers voted for.
Will They Actually Expel LSU?
Almost certainly not, according to ESPN’s reporting. The point of scheduling the vote and putting it in a federal filing is to establish that the conference has the legal authority to enforce its own rules against a member. It is leverage rather than an eviction notice.
The practical case against expulsion is obvious. LSU is a founding member from 1933 and has won three of the SEC’s 25 AP national championships in football. Removing it would blow up scheduling, media rights and the conference’s own brand, and it would almost certainly trigger years of further litigation. Two thirds of 16 presidents is a high bar, and Rousse is one of them.
Public pressure has been real, though. Georgia attorney general Chris Carr called on member schools to use every measure available, naming suspension and expulsion directly.
What to Watch
- Thursday’s vote itself. Even a decisive vote against expulsion, paired with lesser sanctions, would be a significant outcome.
- A ruling on the restraining order. The SEC asked the Birmingham court to keep LSU from interfering with the meeting. Nothing has come down yet.
- The SEC’s appeal of Judge Jorden’s injunction in the Baton Rouge case.
- A possible contempt motion from the players’ side.
- Basketball. The same fight is running through LSU’s basketball program, where Will Wade has pursued RJ Luis Jr. Detail is in our returnee tracker.
Related
NFL players returning to college tracker · LSU’s NFL returnees · Can conferences ban NFL returnees? · The players suing to return · Lane Kiffin at LSU
The Bottom Line
The SEC sued a founding member, lost the first round in Baton Rouge, and has now escalated to a vote on expulsion that it is not expected to win or particularly want to. LSU’s roster is closed and no former pro is on it. Thursday tells us whether this stays a legal argument about authority or becomes something much larger.