LSU Tigers finally got the solution they needed to save the program after Brian Kelly firing

About 24 hours after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry went scorched Earth on LSU brass and former head coach Brian Kelly, a major change was announced. It's official now that LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward will be relieved of his duties, and the Tigers will be led by someone new in the near future. Landry had said Woodward wouldn't get the chance to make another hiring after botching the Jimbo Fisher deal at Florida State and the Kelly deal at LSU.

Kelly was dismissed after a string of disappointing losses, but Landry’s concerns go beyond performance. He took aim at the structure of the deal itself, which could leave taxpayers on the hook for tens of millions.

Speaking about future coaching contracts, Landry emphasized the need for accountability and performance-based terms.

LSU fires AD Scott Woodward amid head coaching search

Landry, who previously served as Louisiana’s attorney general, expressed frustration over the role agents played in Kelly’s hiring and contract negotiations.

“If it's something reasonable that we think that, okay, yeah, we're willing to put the state's money on -- I think that if we put in their metrics, performance-based, where there's no guarantee of $100 million if you have a losing season,” he said.

“What this thing has exposed to me is this racket, in my opinion, that's going on with these agents, because these agents have no cap on them on their commissions, they can represent both sides of the equation,” he said. “Those are all things that lawyers can't do, and as a lawyer, I can understand and appreciate conflicts of interest.”

He made it clear that, had he been involved earlier, the deal would never have gone through.

“When I realized that the party who went and selected the coach and then negotiated the contract had the same agent, I was like, 'Whoa, no, we're not doing this no more,'” Landry said.

Although Landry denied directly ordering Kelly’s firing, he acknowledged stepping in due to the financial implications.

“I did not fire coach Kelly,” he said. “I didn't call and say, 'Hey, fire coach Kelly,' there was a discussion as to whether coach Kelly was going to remain in LSU as the head coach or not.”

“That discussion got to me because I was concerned about the contract, because if coach Kelly was leaving, there would be a $52 million bill, and somebody would have to pay, and so I wanted to see the contract right. I wanted to find out what the liability was. I wasn't consulted on the contract,” he added.

Landry also revealed that Woodward would not be involved in selecting the next head coach, though he stopped short of removing him from his position. “I don't want him involved in picking the next coach,” Landry said.

He said legal experts reviewed the contract and discovered that the state was financially responsible for the buyout.

“I had the lawyers over there who poured through the contract,” Landry said. “And ultimately, I realized that the state of Louisiana was the guarantor. So in other words, that meant that the taxpayers could, if, in other words, if we didn't get one person or five people or 10 people to pony up enough money to pay him, then ultimately, we got to take it out of the Treasury, and I was not interested in doing that.”

With no donors currently lined up to cover the more than $50 million buyout, Landry warned that taxpayers could be left footing the bill.

He also reflected on the broader economics of college football.

“We're talking about tens of millions, $100 million. And when you think about the average college sports fan who either watches it on TV or gets lucky enough to go into the game, they don't have that kind of money, like the people that fill Tiger Stadium are plant workers, teachers, nurses, truck drivers,” he said.

Responding to critics who claim his involvement could scare off future coaching candidates and top recruits, Landry remained confident.

“I'm going to tell those critics. I don't believe any of that is going to come down to money and contracting,” he said. “And one of the greatest jobs in the United States in college sports is coaching the LSU Tigers. That’s a fact.”