The courtroom drama that’s going on in the bayou just got a lot more interesting.
On the same day a hearing is being held to decide if a temporary restraining order allowing NFL players to return to college should be made permanent, the SEC has drawn its own sword.
According to multiple reports, the SEC has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against LSU, president Wade Rousse, athletic director Verge Ausberry and head coach Lane Kiffin.
Additionally, the complaint alleges that LSU and Kiffin “began an orchestrated campaign to recruit professional athletes to join LSU’s football roster for the 2026-27 season.”
“Defendants waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes to play football for LSU during the 2026-27 season, including players who had signed NFL contracts with the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” the SEC said in its complaint, filed Thursday.
Kiffin denied the allegation earlier this week, but the evidence is too clear to ignore. Either he orchestrated the recruitment of NFL players or he signed off on someone else doing it. Any suggestion that he was simply reacting to players’ decisions doesn’t hold up.
This step by the SEC isn’t unexpected. It’s the same tactic the Big 12 used to get Texas Tech to backoff its plans to play quarterback Brendan Sorsby, despite him admitting to betting on games his team (but not himself) were playing.
File a lawsuit in a federal court asking for a “preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting Defendants from violating the Conference’s First Amendment rights by compelling the Conference to associate with conduct that is contrary to the Conference’s purpose and mission.”
The difference between this and the Big 12-Sorsby controversy is that LSU isn’t likely to backdown. That creates a fascinating fight that will have major implications for the idea of conferences self-governing their own teams.
The SEC has a rule prohibiting professional players from playing in college sports. LSU has a court order saying it can. The SEC wants to enforce that rule since it’s a different organization than the NCAA. We’ll know Thursday if the Louisiana state court will uphold the TRO or not. The newly filed federal lawsuit may not be as quick.
No matter which way the outcome falls, if a conference member is able to break a league-wide policy without any penalties, then we’re back to square one with governance of college sports. It’ll be a sign that conferences will have much teeth as the NCAA in the future.
Your guess is as good as mine for what happens next. One thing for certain is that some major decisions about college sports are about to be made.
And it’s worth noting that the first SEC team to start its season kicks off at 7 p.m. Thursday night.
