Gov. Jeff Landry says LSU AD Scott Woodward won’t choose next football coach

LSU athletic director Scott Woodward will not be hiring the Tigers’ next football coach, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said Wednesday.

Landry, during a news conference regarding state-funded assistance for Louisianans amid the government shutdown, was asked by a reporter about his role in the firing of Brian Kelly and the hiring of LSU’s next coach.

When asked about Woodward, Landry emphasized that the athletic director, a position that traditionally hires coaches, would not make the decision this time.

“I can tell you right now, Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach,” Landry said. “Hell, I’ll let Donald Trump select it before I let him do it.”

Landry said LSU’s board of supervisors would form a search committee to select the next coach.

That was news to LSU board chair Scott Ballard. When asked by WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge later on Wednesday for comments about Landry’s claim that the board would run the search, Ballard said “No, I didn’t know that.”

On the next steps for the board, Ballard told the station, “Next steps are we’re gonna go hire the best coach for Louisiana State University, I promise you. Go Tigers!”

Landry also expressed frustration with the buyout LSU faces after firing Kelly on Sunday. Kelly’s contract, a 10-year, $100 million deal that was signed in 2021, was 90 percent guaranteed. LSU could owe Kelly as much as $53 million, though Kelly has offset language that could mitigate the buyout if he takes another job.

“We’re not going down a failed path,” Landry said about the next LSU coach’s contract. “This is a pattern that got us here. The guy (Woodward) that wrote that contract, cost Texas A&M $77 million. Right now, we’ve got a $53 million liability. We are not doing that again.”

Woodward, while AD at Texas A&M, signed Jimbo Fisher to a 10-year, $75 million fully guaranteed contract in 2017. That deal was later extended by his successor at A&M, Ross Bjork, in 2021 to a 10-year agreement worth nearly $95 million and was also fully guaranteed. A&M fired Fisher in 2023 after three consecutive underwhelming seasons and roughly $77 million left on the extended contract.

Woodward has a reputation of making splashy coaching hires throughout his career. At Washington, Woodward lured Chris Petersen — widely regarded as one of the best coaches in the country during his career — from Boise State in 2013. Petersen later took the Huskies to the College Football Playoff in 2016.

At Texas A&M, Woodward hired Fisher in 2017 and Buzz Williams to coach men’s basketball in 2019. Woodward, an LSU alumnus, made three major hires in 2021: hiring Kelly away from Notre Dame, Kim Mulkey to lead the women’s basketball team and Jay Johnson to lead the baseball team. Johnson has taken the Tigers to two national championships since his arrival in Baton Rouge and Mulkey won one for the Tigers in 2023.

LSU won the SEC West Division in 2022, Kelly’s first year with the Tigers, and won 10 games in each of his first two seasons. But they went 9-4 last year and are 5-3 this season, having fallen out of the top 25 after reaching as high as No. 3 in the Associated Press poll. With Kelly’s struggles of late and Fisher’s decline at Texas A&M before their firings, critics have questioned Woodward’s track record and the large guaranteed contracts he has awarded.

Landry also said he would not be selecting LSU’s next coach.

“I’m not going to be picking the next coach,” he said. “But I can promise you that we’re going to pick a coach, and we’re going to make sure that that coach is successful. And we’re going to make sure that he’s compensated properly, and we’re going to put metrics on it because I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill.”

Landry has been vocal about LSU football recently and has appeared to exert some influence over decision-making since LSU is currently led by an interim president. Former school president William Tate IV left earlier this year for Rutgers University and LSU tabbed Matt Lee as interim president.

Late Saturday night, after the Tigers lost 49-25 at home to Texas A&M, Landry posted on X questioning the athletic department’s decision to raise ticket prices amid poor on-field results.

The next day, he hosted a meeting at the governor’s mansion to discuss Kelly’s buyout as the school prepared to fire him, calling it a meeting to discuss “the legalities” of the contract.

“My role is about the fiscal effect of firing a coach under a terrible contract,” Landry said. “All I care about is what the taxpayers are going to be on the hook on (for). I was also not happy with the fact that we were raising ticket prices while we were having a losing season and we were paying a coach $100 million and we were not getting the results.

“Now, look, I have no animus against Brian Kelly. … But I think that it had gotten to the point — and I think they realized that — that the spirit of the team needed a change. And so that change was made and we’re going to move on. We’re without a president right now at LSU, and I’m hoping that the board of supervisors gets us (a coach) very quickly.”

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