Woodward's AD Legacy: Hired By UW, Fired By LSU

This was personal for him. Woodward was born in Baton Rouge, graduated from LSU, worked as director of external affairs at the school, returned to his alma mater as the athletic director in 2019 and was terminated from what had been his dream job.

After dismissing Tigers football coach Brian Kelly on Sunday, Woodward survived just four days before he met a similar fate.

He had better days, for sure. He was in his first year on the job when LSU went 15-0 and won the 2019 football national championship.

He came under fire after Kelly, coming to LSU from Notre Dame, but didn't work out over three and a half seasons and was forced out, owed a $54 million buyout that reportedly was settled for about half that.

Signs that Woodward was in trouble came when Louisiana governor Jeff Landry personally got involved in the LSU coaching ordeal, publicly lambasted the athletic director and announced a committee would hire the next coach.

He was stripped of his job with LSU now needing to hire a new football coach, an athletic director and a new school president, as well.

Woodward came to the UW in 2004, hired in a non-sporting role by new president Mark Emmert, as his vice president of external affairs. They had worked together at LSU.

Emmert installed him as the Husky athletic director in 2008. Woodward stayed eight years in that role, and dozen years at the UW in all, helping pull the football program out of its darkest times, before leaving for Texas A&M.

He'll always be remembered in Seattle for his involvement in giving Husky Stadium its spectacular facelift.

"This is as good as it gets," Woodward said when the facility reopened in 2013. "It's efficient, it's done well, it's done classy. It's done in a way that fits who we are as far as the University of Washington and the northwest with our sensibilities."

Twelve years later after that stadium unveiling, after first going to Texas A&M, after winning a national championship, Woodward ran headlong into LSU sensibilities, which were not patient or attractive.