LSU, Overzealous Governor Parts Ways with Scott Woodward

Just four days after Brian Kelly’s abrupt firing, LSU has parted ways with athletic director Scott Woodward. Considering his office, Governor Jeff Landry has been unusually outspoken this week about Woodward’s tenure in Baton Rouge and the next steps regarding LSU’s coaching search. On Wednesday, Landry proclaimed that Woodward would not select the Tigers’ next head coach. Woodward’s departure would materialize only a day later.

Executive Deputy Athletic Director Verge Ausberry will serve as interim athletic director in Woodward’s absence. Suddenly, LSU is looking to fill positions in the two most pivotal roles of a college athletic program amid a grandiose political grandstanding production that knows no end. LSU’s Board of Supervisors, several of whom were chosen by Landry, must fill these positions quickly. Consequently, the following two months will be fateful for LSU athletics.

LSU Parts Ways with Scott Woodward

The Homegrown Hero

Woodward is a Baton Rouge native, an LSU alum, and first worked for his alma mater in 2000. He got his first job as a full-time athletic director at the University of Washington, where the Huskies won seven national championships in different sports under his direction. Woodward eventually left Washington for Texas A&M. He hit on hires like Buzz Williams in basketball but infamously missed on Jimbo Fisher for football. But contrary to Landry’s recent comments, it was athletic director Ross Bjork who agreed to the extension that led to Fisher’s record-breaking buyout.

LSU, frustrated with its embattled athletic director Joe Alleva, came calling in 2019. Woodward obliged and continued to build on his reputation as a “big game” hunter as an athletic director. He hired Louisiana native and championship basketball coach Kim Mulkey from a Baylor powerhouse program. Jay Johnson followed suit from a well-established Arizona baseball program. These hires led to LSU’s first-ever national championship in women’s basketball and two national championships in baseball.

Championships don’t come easy and shouldn’t be taken for granted in any sport. But football is at the forefront at LSU. Football fills over 100,000 seats, creates the demand for television money, and funds the other non-revenue-earning sports in the athletic department. Unfortunately for Woodward, he got Ed Orgeron’s replacement wrong with Kelly. Although Kelly was the second-winningest active coach of all time entering 2025, he never embraced LSU’s culture and history.

Whispers around the program about Kelly’s work ethic and disregard for former players have grown into full-blown public rants since his exit. The miss was surely a costly one, with LSU owing Kelly over $50 million. But there is no decision maker in any field that gets every hire right.

Football, Politics, and Louisiana

Louisianians are passionate. They love football, and the politicians are not exempt from the investment that claims the time and energy of the state’s residents. At Last Word, we don’t care about which side of the political fence people stand on. The most troublesome issue in this case is that the driving force of such monumental decisions is not rooted in LSU nor football.

Governor Landry is a southwest Louisiana native. He graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. We’re not here to disparage Landry as a state official, but one has to wonder about the origin of his frenzied efforts towards an athletic program.

Louisiana has a lot to offer in terms of culture and lifestyle, but U.S. News ranks the state 49^th in America for higher education and 46^th in violent crime rate. There are plenty of critical issues to address for the highest office in the state. There’s a significant chance that Landry’s educational background and political acumen would be better suited to govern than run an athletic program.

An Elite Job is Losing Its Luster

The college football world heavily emphasized how good the LSU job was immediately after LSU let Kelly go. Tradition, administrative support, fan enthusiasm, and the recruiting base combine to make Baton Rouge one of the most attractive destinations in the country. Until now.

Under normal circumstances, LSU would be such a destination that almost any coach would at least take the call. At this point, it’s hard to imagine the established stars of the sport taking on the headache. Dan Lanning is currently at the biggest powerhouse on the West Coast with essentially an open checkbook for any need that comes along. We’ve said enough about politics, but Lane Kiffin could realistically run for governor of Mississippi if Ole Miss makes the playoffs. Vanderbilt might be tempted to build a statue for Clark Lea if he wins 10 games. It’s hard to imagine any of these coaches choosing to leave the stability and equity they’ve built to join the circus in Baton Rouge.

With no athletic director and one outspoken governor/helicopter parent, LSU’s head coach opening gets less appealing every day. We’ve seen what bad hires can do to proud programs. The hope for the Tigers lies in the tempting opportunity outweighing the external factors for the right confident candidate.