According to a report from The Athletic’s Brody Miller, LSU running back coach Frank Wilson has been accused of sexual harassment by former Tigers associate athletic director Sharon Lewis. Per court documents filed on Thursday, Wilson allegedly exposed his genitalia to Lewis during a previous stint at LSU.
Lewis said that Wilson asked her to touch his genitalia and also attempted to kiss another female employee without consent.
Wilson spent six years as an assistant for the Tigers before serving as the head coach at Texas-San Antonio and McNeese State. He was brought back as part of coach Brian Kelly’s first staff this offseason.
Lewis said that she made the allegations known at the time to senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar and executive deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry. Per Lewis, there was no investigation and no action was taken. Segar and Ausberry were suspended in 2021 after an independent investigation found that they failed to properly handle reports of sexual misconduct.
In a statement, LSU said that any previous allegations against Wilson weren’t brought to the attention of the university.
“We are unaware of any prior allegations against Frank Wilson, and there is no evidence that any such allegations were ever reported to LSU officials. Further, none of these allegations were shared during the highly visible, independent Title IX review that LSU initiated last year.”
Lewis was fired in January as part of mass layoffs within the athletic staff. Her termination came just months after she filed a lawsuit against the university alleging that she faced retaliation for reporting incidents of sexual harassment by former head coach Les Miles toward several female athletics student workers. The incident with Wilson has been added to that lawsuit.
USA TODAY Sports spoke with three employees, who provided more details about the incident. One of them alleged that Wilson tried to kiss her during an after-hours meeting.
“Everybody knew how Frank was,” said one of the former staffers, who was in her 20s at the time. “It got to a point where we didn’t want any of the girls working with him. I dealt with Frank’s sexual harassment for years. His comments. His behavior. He always made, not only me, but so many of the girls feel so uncomfortable.”
It’s unclear how LSU plans to proceed as far as Wilson’s employment, but this is yet another damning report that comes on the heels of several years of reporting on sexual misconduct within the program, going all the way up to Miles himself.
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