LSU firing AD Scott Woodward only makes things worse for the Tigers
By David Wasson
Published:
Thursday night’s news explosion from Baton Rouge that LSU was firing athletic director Scott Woodward should have surprised precisely no one – not during arguably the most inexplicable news cycle in Louisiana college sports history.
Woodward is out at LSU, 4 days after the Tigers fired Brian Kelly and just over 24 hours after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry delivered perhaps the wildest press conference ostensibly about a coaching search imaginable… a press conference that included a declaration that Woodward would have no part in deciding Kelly’s replacement while the sitting governor simultaneously ranted about the process and the cost.
You heard that correctly: the athletic director of a Southeastern Conference football program would have no say in hiring a football coach. That is the equivalent of handcuffing Woodward directly to Mike The Tiger’s cage and telling him to stand there quietly while the adults in the room figured out who would lead the football team.
That Woodward didn’t immediately unfurl a fresh sheaf of letterhead and fire off a short memo that started with the subject line “I Quit” when hearing Gov. Landry torch his good name is a testament to the AD understanding his own contract – a document that surely has a buyout, albeit undoubtedly at pennies on the dollar of what Kelly’s insane buyout is.
Landry’s screed about the State Of LSU Football, which included chapters titled “Watch Out Agents” and “This Is Costing My People Millions,” probably garnered him some votes among the constituency. Which is all fine and good… we aren’t here to analyze the politics of the guv’s actions. Plenty of publications out there to find that kind of analysis both red and blue.
But for a sitting governor of any state to take such an active role in who will coach the purple and gold college football powerhouse is, well, revolutionary.
And insane.
Why? For starters, Landry proceeded to bust out some distorted facts to try and make an illogical argument. Kelly’s buyout, which was negotiated by powerful sports agent Jimmy Sexton, isn’t going to be paid by the good taxpayers of Louisiana. Not a single, solitary cent. All that dough – the sum of which was still being negotiated, by the way, while Woodward was cleaning out his office – is to come from LSU’s athletic department and private donors.
Yes, LSU is a state entity and thus theoretically could turn to the state to fulfill its contractual obligations. But when has that ever happened?
As to the business of skyrocketing buyouts for big-time coaches like Kelly – and former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher – Landry also pinned them both on Woodward’s unsuspecting shoulders. Problem is, Woodward had departed Texas A&M for LSU when Fisher’s ill-fated extension with the $76 million buyout was negotiated in 2021 as part of a 10-year extension. The new Aggies AD, Ross Bjork, was the one whose name was on the dotted line then.
Gov. Landry also took dead aim at agents – not naming Sexton directly but certainly making it obvious that is who he meant – purportedly ruining the entire enterprise. And while we could certainly admit that acknowledging Sexton’s current status as the most powerful person in college athletics makes one want to shower off the smarminess of it all, no amount of Lava soap in the world will scrub away the truth of Sexton’s power.
The agent doesn’t represent everyone, of course. Heck, he doesn’t even represent Woodward – an LSU alum who might have missed on Kelly but also hired Kim Mulkey away from Baylor to coach the LSU women’s basketball team to a national title. And while Sexton did represent Fisher during his move to Texas A&M, he actually didn’t represent Kelly when the former Notre Dame coach was hired in Baton Rouge and almost instantly started bumbling his way through attempting to jell with the fanbase.
Alas, agents aren’t a part of the problem at LSU any more than the outgoing athletic director. On the contrary, having a sitting governor with his hand in the process will undoubtedly have the unintended effect of harming LSU’s ability to hire an elite coach. Because who on earth would want to go to Baton Rouge only to have Landry breathing heavily over his shoulder at any given opportunity?
The answer, of course, is no one. LSU isn’t going to get Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin this way. Heck, LSU isn’t going to get anyone worth a lick in the current climate – a dysfunctional mess that includes no university president and now no athletic director. At this rate, LSU will be lucky to get a Last Chance U-level coach to lead the Tigers in 2026.
What’s next at LSU? At this juncture, they’re running out of people to pin blame on before running them out the door. But one thing is certain: Every day Gov. Jeff Landry is standing in that doorway instead of working on the people’s business down the street at the State Capitol, LSU football becomes less and less powerful.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
