Lawyers representing former LSU athletics recruiter Sharon Lewis spent five days presenting evidence to jurors that she was sexually harassed, discriminated against and subjected to a hostile work environment while an administrator for the Tigers' vaunted football program.
On Tuesday, LSU attorneys sought to dismantle Lewis' claims with testimony from two of the men at the heart of her allegations. Assistant football coach Frank Wilson and executive deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry both denied the respective accusations Lewis levied against them in her $50 million federal lawsuit.
"They're egregious and not true," Wilson said when asked if he has ever faced sexual misconduct allegations at any other point in his coaching career. "Not in my community, not at any other university. At no point have I ever been accused of the things I'm being accused of now."
LSU associate head coach and running backs coach Frank Wilson joins his players on the field for the singing of the Alma Mater following the Tigers’ 41-14 win over the Bulldogs, Saturday, September 16, 2023, at Davis Wade Stadium on the campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.
The evidentiary portion of Lewis' civil trial against the LSU Board of Supervisors came to a close Tuesday afternoon. Closing arguments are slated to begin Wednesday morning, and an all-White jury of five men and three women will deliberate on whether or not Lewis should be awarded damages.
Lewis' lawsuit indicates she was retaliated against after reporting sexual misconduct complaints made by two female students against Les Miles when he was LSU's head football coach. She contends she was wrongfully terminated from her $125,000-a-year job in early 2022 after enduring 10 years of hostility.
In a claim added to her complaint nearly a year after she originally filed suit, Lewis alleges Wilson walked into her office in 2013 and closed the door, exposed himself and asked her to touch his genitals. Lewis said she reported the incident to Ausberry and Miriam Segar, a senior associate athletic director who served as an intermediary handling Title IX reports for the athletics department, but they never forwarded her complaints to Title IX investigators on campus.
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at universities that receive federal funding.
Wilson denied he ever exposed himself to Lewis, asked her out on dates, propositioned her for sex or undermined her when she rebuffed advances from him.
"I did not, nor would I ever do anything like that," he testified, noting that he is a married man.
Ausberry also took the stand Tuesday and said Lewis never came to him with any misconduct allegations about Wilson. Lewis' lead attorney, Larry English, challenged Ausberry during cross-examination, pointedly asking if he doubted Lewis' claim that Wilson exposed himself in her office.
"Yes, she's lying," Ausberry said.
LSU senior associate athletic director Verge Ausberry listens as LSU head coach Brian Kelly speaks as he is introduced during a press conference, Wednesday, December 1, 2021, at LSU in Baton Rouge, La.
One day after Lewis told jurors Ausberry was just a co-worker, he testified Tuesday that he considered her a "good friend" who he mentored and advised over the years to help her grow in her career. Lewis on Monday testified that Ausberry called her an "angry Black woman" on two separate occasions in 2020. She also said he referred to her as a "stupid incompetent b----" during a staff meeting.
Ausberry denied ever making those comments. He did acknowledge yelling at Lewis during a fiery phone conversation in 2014, but said Lewis also yelled and cursed at him during the argument. He noted they clashed at times, but had a close "brother-sister" relationship.
Ausberry later indicated Lewis often accused people of mistreating her because she is Black even when it wasn't racism.
"Sharon had an issue with people telling her no at times, especially White people," he said. "Every White person that told her no or disagreed with her was a racist."
Lewis' attorneys confronted Ausberry about being suspended for 30 days for failing to report a 2018 domestic violence incident when a football player texted him admitting that he hit his girlfriend. Ausberry testified he told the player to call the police because he wasn't aware the girlfriend was an LSU student at the time.
"In 30 years as an administrator, I've never had a history of failing to report Title IX complaints," he said.
The day began with testimony from current head football coach Brian Kelly, who told jurors he made the decision to terminate Lewis' position after he took the reins of the program in late 2021. Lewis was one of more than 40 casualties of the coaching change, something several witnesses have testified is standard practice in college football under a new regime.
"It was strictly about organizational structure and bringing the right organization together to return LSU back to its championship form," Kelly said.
Wilson left LSU in 2016 to become the head football coach at University of Texas-San Antonio. He returned in December 2021 following a stint coaching at McNeese State University in Lake Charles.
Lewis' attorneys have made the case that board members and Athletics Director Scott Woodward wanted Wilson back and ordered Lewis' termination as a condition of his rehiring. Kelly, however, testified that he made the decision to hire Wilson on his own, saying he was highly touted by other coaches, former players and even fans.
Kelly indicated he was not aware of Lewis' allegations against Wilson when he made the hire. Wilson testified Tuesday that Title IX investigators questioned him about sexual misconduct claims two weeks ago at his Baton Rouge attorney's office.
Lewis herself was found guilty of violating Title IX mandates in 2018 after investigators determined she failed to report the complaint of a student worker who told her Wilson sexually harassed her. That former student, Calise Richardson, testified last week that there was a "toxic male culture" in the athletics office and said Wilson inappropriately asked her about her dating life during a 2013 conversation in the office break room.
Wilson on Tuesday said he didn't know who Richardson is and denied the allegation. While appealing the Title IX investigation in 2019, Lewis submitted a memo to the LSU human resources office detailing years of inappropriate behavior. In the memo, Lewis called Wilson a "pimp for Les Miles" and said that in 2013, he told her to hire prettier female student workers or Black women with lighter skin complexions to make Miles happy.
Wilson denied that allegation as well. Miles did not testify and was not listed as a trial witness.
Wilson was never a named defendant in the case and attorneys did not depose him during pretrial proceedings. Tuesday marked his first official response to the slate of allegations Lewis lodged against him more than 21 months ago.
Throughout much of the trial, English referred to Wilson and Miles as "sexual predators" who were allowed to remain employed at LSU even after female students accused them of harassment.
"That's unfortunate," Wilson said. "I would've loved an opportunity to speak to Mr. English before, he wouldn't say those things about me."
Miles was reprimanded after a second student came forward and accused him of kissing her without her consent in 2013. Then-Athletics Director Joe Alleva ordered him to stop involving himself in the hiring process for recruiting interns and student workers in the football program. Miles has denied he made advances toward the former student. At some point, he reached a settlement with the woman, according to trial testimony.
Nikole Jessie, a former student intern in the football recruiting office, testified last week that Wilson forcibly kissed her during a fall 2012 meeting in the office of then-director of player personnel Sherman Morris. She said Morris was in the room and likely witnessed the incident.
Both Wilson and Morris testified Tuesday that it never happened and said student workers never participated in meetings in the office. Morris became choked up while addressing the allegations and said he was either not aware of or flat out didn't believe any of them.
"We did not have that type of environment in the Football Operation Building," he testified. "It's troubling to me to hear these things being said because over my time there, that's not anything I ever witnessed."
Morris left LSU in 2013 after six years at the university. He told jurors the testimony about Wilson's alleged sexual misconduct "does not align with his character" and said he felt the need rebut those accusations about LSU athletics department.
"This is hard for me because these people are my friends," he said. "The stuff that's being alleged is so inaccurate, so not part of my experience, that I had to come."