SEC Student Athlete Was Abused Then Betrayed by LSU

Summary

David Lewis — New Zealand-born father, Fed Cup captain, tennis coach — joins Lisa Stone to recount in detail how his daughter Jade Lewis, a top-10 US college tennis recruit, was physically assaulted multiple times by an LSU football player across 2017-2018, and how LSU’s athletic department, coaches, and campus police systematically failed to protect her, failed to report as required by federal law, and in multiple instances actively covered up the crimes. Jade’s case is one component of a USA Today investigation into systemic mishandling of sexual and dating violence at LSU that subsequently triggered a US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights investigation into the university. David Lewis is the brother of Chris Lewis, the former Wimbledon finalist and US-based tennis coach. The episode is not primarily about tennis development — it is a documented account of institutional betrayal of a student athlete, offered as a warning to every family sending a child to college.

Guest Background

David Lewis is originally from New Zealand, spent years working in tennis (brother is Chris Lewis, former Wimbledon finalist, now US-based coach), and was involved as a Fed Cup captain and coach. He was physically present on campus when the first assault on Jade occurred in May 2017. He has since engaged in personal efforts to hold LSU accountable — writing to the ITA, the SEC commissioner, and the NCAA president — finding each institution unwilling to act beyond forwarding correspondence back to LSU. As of the episode date, he and Jade are back in New Zealand.

Jade Lewis grew up in New Zealand and the US. As a junior she reached a high enough level to have set points against Venus Williams in a WTA event. She was a top-10 US college tennis recruit. She committed to LSU with a specific arrangement: one-semester enrollment followed by a return to professional play, with the scholarship protected to allow completion of her degree afterward. Spring 2017 was her first semester at LSU; she was immediately impactful (All-American, defeated Astra Sharma). She left after events described below, attempted to resume her pro career, returned to LSU in March 2018, and ultimately departed permanently in late 2018.

Key Findings

1. Timeline of Assaults and Institutional Failures

May 2017 — First assault: David and his wife were physically on the LSU campus when a football player punched Jade. Jade reported the incident to the athletic trainer. The trainer did NOT report to Title IX or campus police — which is mandatory under federal law. David informed the co-head coach of the women’s tennis team in July 2017. The co-head coach took no discernible action.

April 3, 2018 — Second assault: Jade sustained broken ribs. She saw a doctor on April 25. She reported the incident to three LSU officials: the athletic trainer, the director of athletic trainers, and the senior associate athletic director. The executive deputy athletic director received a text message from the football player himself on April 14. The football player remained on the team. His legal guardian is an LSU booster.

June 2018 — Third assault (strangulation): Jade was strangled by the football player. Campus police were called. LSU was simultaneously running a $25,000 professional tennis tournament on campus that week. No arrest was made at the time.

August 2018 — Arrest and information blackout: The football player was arrested. The Lewis family learned of the arrest by reading a newspaper. They never received a phone call from LSU at any point across all three assaults.

2. The Mandatory Reporting Failure

Under federal law (Title IX and the Clery Act), when a campus employee with authority is informed of sexual or physical violence, mandatory reporting obligations are triggered. The LSU athletic trainer who received Jade’s May 2017 report was a mandatory reporter and failed to fulfill that obligation. Every subsequent institutional actor who received reports similarly failed to comply. USA Today obtained — through a public records request — a June 8, 2016 email from LSU’s athletic director to staff instructing them to report abuse issues internally to the senior associate athletic director and human resources and keep it “in us.” This email itself constitutes a violation of federal law. The same athletic director subsequently stated publicly that LSU “would never keep anything in house.” The contradiction between the internal instruction and the public statement is documented in the USA Today investigation.

3. Pattern of Suppression Dating to 2012

The same co-head coach who failed to act on Jade’s case in 2017-2018 had a documented history of suppressing reports. In the first semester of her employment at LSU (2012), a teammate reported another teammate being assaulted by a boyfriend. The coach’s documented response was anger at the teammate for having reported it (“Why did you report it?”). The USA Today investigation surfaced this pattern as part of its broader reporting on systemic institutional failure.

4. Institutional Non-Response: ITA, SEC, NCAA

David Lewis contacted every governing body with jurisdiction: the ITA (which told him it handles on-court tennis matters and nothing beyond), the SEC commissioner (which forwarded his correspondence to LSU), and the NCAA president (which told him to work with LSU directly — the institution that had been stonewalling, lying, and refusing to release documents). As of the episode date, LSU had appointed the law firm Husch Blackwell to conduct an internal investigation. The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights investigation was the only external accountability mechanism that David identified as credible.

5. The Football Revenue Structure as Systemic Root Cause

David and Lisa Stone identify the structural driver of cover-ups: college tennis programs at schools with football are financially dependent on the football program. Football generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually for conferences and the NCAA. Tennis programs that protect players from football players threaten the financial ecosystem they depend on. David: “We’re going to protect the program at all costs — the girls being assaulted or raped or strangled doesn’t matter. The football program, the money, has priority over them.” Lisa: “The tennis program is at the mercy of the success of the football program.”

6. Scale of the LSU Investigation

The USA Today investigation is not limited to Jade’s case. One victim publicly disclosed that 12 additional women had approached her with their own assault stories. David cites national statistics: approximately 20-25% of women who attend college will be raped or assaulted; only approximately 10% report. LSU has approximately 30,000 students. The scope of unreported incidents at LSU is therefore potentially enormous. The investigation covers multiple sports and extends well beyond tennis.

7. What Parents Can Do — David Lewis’s Advice

David’s retrospective guidance for families evaluating college programs: (1) Research the program’s and school’s history of handling abuse and violence — not just athletic performance. (2) Research the school’s fraternity culture and campus crime record. (3) Ask coaches directly and specifically about their protocols for reporting violence and their track record on player safety. (4) Do not assume “safe campus” orientation presentations reflect actual institutional behavior. He references the documentary “The Hunting Ground” as essential pre-enrollment viewing for both students and parents.

Lisa Stone adds: Maintain open communication with your child’s roommate, not just your child. Ask the roommate to contact you if anything appears wrong. The bystander problem is real — teammates who observed Jade’s situation were young and uncertain how to act. Expand the communication network beyond just parent-coach channels.

Actionable Advice for Families

• Before committing to a college program, specifically research the athletic department’s history on student safety and Title IX compliance — this information is available through public records, campus crime logs (Clery Act requires publication), and investigative journalism
• Understand that at schools with major revenue football programs, tennis programs are financially dependent on football; this creates structural pressure to suppress reports that could damage the football program
• Build a communication network beyond just your child — establish a relationship with your child’s roommate and make clear you want to be contacted if something concerning is happening; teammates and roommates can be the early warning system that institutional channels failed to be for Jade Lewis
• Know that Title IX and the Clery Act create mandatory reporting obligations for campus employees — when a trainer or coach is informed of violence, they are legally required to report; if they do not, that failure is your signal that the institution is not operating in your child’s interest

INTENNSE Relevance

• Player welfare: The LSU case defines the opposite of what INTENNSE’s player environment must be — a professional league context where players are adults employed under contract (not 18-year-olds placed in the care of an institution with conflicting financial interests) creates a structurally different accountability relationship; INTENNSE player contracts should include explicit harassment and violence response protocols with external reporting channels
• Institutional accountability design: David Lewis’s experience — ITA unable to act, SEC forwarding correspondence to LSU, NCAA deferring to LSU — reveals that governing bodies with no enforcement muscle are useless in abuse situations; INTENNSE’s governance design should include an independent player welfare ombudsperson with reporting authority that does not route through team management
• Coach vetting: The co-head coach who responded with anger when a player reported teammate abuse in 2012 and then failed Jade Lewis in 2017-2018 passed through years of employment without accountability; INTENNSE’s coach vetting should include specific investigation of Title IX history, not just performance results
• College recruiting context: This episode will be known to any family that has done deep research on college tennis programs; INTENNSE’s pitch to families of college tennis prospects should explicitly address player safety as a structural feature — the league is not an institution that depends on a football program
• Broadcast/storytelling: Jade Lewis’s profile — top-10 recruit, beat Astra Sharma as a freshman, had set points against Venus Williams — is a reminder that elite junior careers are fragile in ways that have nothing to do with tennis development; INTENNSE’s broadcast can humanize the real-world complexities that produce gaps in player careers

Notable Quotes

“We seek justice and we also seek to prevent future families — whether it’s LSU or another school doing the same sort of thing — from not being aware of what’s out there.”

“The enablers in my mind are potentially worse than the abusers themselves. They’re complicit to these crimes.”

“Not a phone call. Not one phone call to us — Jade’s parents — from the beginning to the end.”

“We’re going to protect the program at all costs. The girls being assaulted or raped or strangled — that doesn’t matter. The football program, the money, has priority over them.”

“I want parents to know that the university isn’t always going to protect our children, even though they tell us they will.”

“If we can help save one victim from being assaulted or whatever it may be — then that’s a help already right there.”