LSU football coach Ed Orgeron said in a written statement submitted to a Louisiana state Senate committee on Tuesday that he considered Gloria Scott’s alleged sexual harassment of former running back Derrius Guice in 2017 “entirely unacceptable “, but denied having spoken directly to Scott about the matter.
Orgeron’s statement contradicts part of what Scott told the committee on March 26, when she remembered how she worked as a security guard at the New Orleans Superdome in December 2017 when Guice, then an LSU runner, approached her and said to she in front of her friends said “I like to have sex with older women like you” and “I want your body”.
Orgeron submitted his written statement following a request from the Louisiana Senate Selected Committee on Women and Children to respond to Scott’s allegations.
In a letter to Orgeron, Senator Regina Barrow, who chairs the committee, wrote: “As the leader of the LSU football team, it is extremely important that your office take these issues seriously and act accordingly to ensure safety and security. well-being-of the students it serves. “
The committee began its hearings in the wake of the Husch Blackwell report, which was released in March and detailed how LSU handled allegations of sexual assault and Title IX-related incidents.
The committee’s goal is to provide policy recommendations for handling allegations of sexual assault at Louisiana colleges.
Scott, who said he was humiliated by Guice’s alleged comments, told lawmakers that Orgeron called her offering an apology from Guice. Scott said that Orgeron asked her “please forgive [Guice] because he is a problematic child. “
Scott said he told Orgeron and LSU officials that he wanted Guice to be suspended from playing in the Citrus Bowl on January 1, 2018. But Guice was allowed to play and she said she never heard of Orgeron again.
In a note, Orgeron said he tried to call Scott to apologize to Guice, but that a man answered the phone. Orgeron said the man would not put Scott on the phone unless the coach promised to suspend Guice, which he said he could not do until he spoke to the university and obtained more information.
Orgeron wrote as he “almost remembers hearing” that the same man who claimed to be representing Scott demanded monetary compensation from LSU and that these “claims were validated with several audio recordings and electronic correspondence”.
ESPN obtained copies of correspondence between the man who claimed to represent Scott, an AAU coach named Cleavon Williams and LSU administrators.
On the recordings, Williams says Scott wants Guice to be suspended or the school to pay to keep the story a secret. Williams asks LSU administrators Miriam Segar and Verge Ausberry: “What is the value of Derrius Guice playing in the Citrus Bowl?”
But there is no evidence that Scott herself demanded money from LSU.
Instead, in a text message, Williams writes that he spoke to Scott’s grandson and that they decided for $ 100,000 as compensation for “public embarrassment and sexual harassment”.
When contacted by ESPN on Monday, Scott repeatedly denied asking for money.
She said she asked Orgeron, Segar and Ausberry only that Guice be suspended as a punishment for “mocking me”.
“I wasn’t looking for anything else,” she said.
Orgeron, who wrote to the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children instead of appearing in person, said that the fact that he spoke directly to Scott “does not change the fact that what happened to Scott in 2017 is unmistakably wrong.”
“As a leader and as a father, son and grandson, I want to emphasize that it is moving that Ms. Scott has been subjected to such rude comments from Mr. Guice, and she should be respected for her bravery and determination to provide her with statements to the Committee” , wrote Orgeron. “She, along with this Committee, has my word that I will remain vigilant to ensure that the LSU football program maintains a culture of integrity and compliance.”