Copyright AL.com
LSU and athletics director Scott Woodward will soon “part ways,” according to multiple reports. The news comes a day after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry excoriated Woodward during a televised press conference, blaming the AD for former football coach Brian Kelly’s $53 million buyout and saying the LSU Board of Supervisors — and not Woodward — would hire the Tigers’ next football coach. Kelly was fired Sunday, a day after LSU lost 49-25 at home to Texas A&M, its third loss in four games. “I can tell you right now, Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach. Hell, I’ll let Donald Trump do it before I let him do it,” said Landry, a Republican and close ally of the President. “... The Board of Supervisors are going to come up with a committee and they’re going to go find us a coach.” Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports is reporting that LSU executive deputy athletics director Verge Ausberry is expected to serve as interim AD. Ausberry, a Tigers linebacker in the late 1980s, has worked in the school’s athletics department for the last quarter-century. A Baton Rouge native and LSU graduate, Woodward was hired in 2019 after four years at Texas A&M, where he also hired Jimbo Fisher as football coach in 2018. Fisher was fired by the Aggies in 2023, with the school on the hook for a $77 million buyout (though most of that came due to a contract extension awarded in 2021 by Woodward’s successor, Ross Bjork). Woodward did have a number of successful hires at LSU, including women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey — who won a national championship in 2023 — and baseball coach Jay Johnson, who has won two of the last three College World Series. But football drives the bus, and Landry said he wasn’t going to let Woodward consign LSU to another outrageous contract buyout. “We’re not going down a failed path,” Landry said. “This is a pattern, the guy (Woodward) that wrote that contract cost Texas A&M $77 million. Right now we’ve got a $53 million liability and we are not doing that again. “I believe that we’re gonna find a great coach. … I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill.” LSU (5-3, 2-3 SEC) has an open date this week before traveling to Alabama on Nov. 8.
