NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Southeastern Conference is no longer expected to vote on whether to expel LSU from the league on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday evening.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Thursday's meeting — to be held by video conference — is not open to the public and because the SEC has not released a statement on the matter since a federal court filing on Tuesday highlighted
the league's intent to vote on LSU's membership.
The dispute between the conference and LSU stems largely from first-year Tigers coach Lane Kiffin's now-abandoned bid to field two players who had signed NFL contracts as undrafted rookies this past offseason.
A hearing scheduled Wednesday in a federal lawsuit the SEC filed against LSU was postponed by a judge in Birmingham, Alabama.
Meanwhile, LSU President Wade Rousse sent a one-page letter to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stating that the league's claims in its lawsuit against LSU are now moot because Kiffin had complied with a conference ban on rostering players who had previously signed contracts with NFL teams.
Rousse noted that he called Sankey last Friday afternoon and notified him personally that LSU would not be placing tight end Dae'Quan Wright or defensive tackle Zxavian Harris on the Tigers' roster.
Wright had spent part of the past offseason with the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns. Harris has spent part of the offseason with the New Orleans Saints. Both also had played for Mississippi when Kiffin was the Rebels' coach.
LSU on Tuesday filled remaining vacancies on its roster with eligible players.
“The roster is now locked for the season,” Rousse's letter stated. “LSU complied with SEC rules. This issue is moot.”
Rousse also noted that LSU “will not challenge, disrupt or seek to cancel or postpone" Thursday's scheduled meeting — a concern Sankey had raised Tuesday in the SEC's amended federal complaint against LSU.
LSU is a founding member of the SEC, which was formed in 1933. LSU has a host of powerhouse athletics programs and has won three of the SEC’s 25 AP national championships in football alone.
Still, the language in the federal lawsuit left little ambiguity about the extent to which the leaders of most SEC universities had become frustrated with LSU — not only because of efforts to recruit former pros to both its football and men's basketball teams.
They also were unhappy about the related court drama that ensued — including a marathon court hearing last week in which Sankey took the stand to insist the league has the right to enforce its own rules.
Sankey said there was consensus among conference leaders that “LSU’s continued membership in the conference would be inconsistent with the publicly stated values and principles of the conference and its remaining member institutions,” even if LSU doesn’t put the former NFL players on its roster.
The SEC has a long-established rule forbidding teams from bringing players with major professional experience onto their rosters. In recent weeks, the conference announced updated enforcement provisions to that rule, stating that the commissioner had the power to suspend coaches, fine universities up to half of a sport’s budget and restrict a member university’s voting privileges on conference matters.
But last Thursday, a judge in Baton Rouge barred the league from enforcing any rules regarding former pros — a decision celebrated heartily by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the state attorney general, Liz Murrill, who’d filed a brief in the case on behalf of the athletes.
Murrill called the SEC’s lawsuit “legal garbage” shortly after it was filed last week.; The SEC has since listed Murrill as a defendant.
Sankey has stated that SEC presidents are concerned that Rousse and athletic director Verge Ausberry have no “meaningful control” over Kiffin or the football program.
Sankey also stated that “serious harm” had been caused “by the statements and conduct of LSU," and suggested that harm would not be undone simply by LSU renouncing "its intention to roster and play professional players on its football team.”
Kiffin’s hiring was one of two notable coaching changes at LSU involving the highest revenue-generating college sports: LSU also has brought back Will Wade to coach men’s basketball. Wade was fired by previous athletic director Scott Woodward in the wake of an NCAA investigation into improper inducement payments to recruits when such payments were forbidden.
Wade served a suspension from coaching in college before returning in the 2023-24 season with McNeese State. He spent two seasons with the Cowboys and one with North Carolina State before he was brought back to LSU — a move favored by Landry, as well as Rousse, a Landry ally who was McNeese’s president when Wade was there.
Wade has sought to sign RJ Luis Jr., a former Big East player of the year with St. John’s who spent parts of the 2025 NBA offseason and preseason with the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics, but never played in a regular-season NBA game.
Luis also has been fighting the NCAA in court in Baton Rouge, where a judge on Aug. 24 issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the NCAA from punishing LSU if the Tigers play Luis — something that also would violate the SEC rules at the center of the conference’s federal lawsuit against LSU.
LSU’s football team is now ranked eighth in the Top 25 AP Poll following Saturday’s 51-10, season-opening victory over Clemson. The Tigers host Louisiana Tech on Saturday, followed by a much anticipated visit to No. 9 Ole Miss, where Kiffin will face the team he coached a year ago.
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