LSU’s tumultuous week just got even wilder as LSU and athletic director Scott Woodward are finalizing an exit agreement according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.
“We thank Scott for the last six years of service as athletic director,” said Scott Ballard, LSU’s board of supervisors chair. “He had a lot of success at LSU, and we wish him nothing but the best in the future. Our focus now is on moving the athletic department forward and best positioning LSU to achieve its full potential.”
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Verge Ausberry is expected to serve as the university’s interim athletic director.
Woodward has been in the crosshairs of Louisiana governor Jeff Landry lately, with Landry saying to reporters at a Wednesday press conference that Woodward “is not selecting our next coach.” Landry was critical of Woodward signing Brian Kelly to a 10-year, $95 million contract that now includes $54 million being owed to Kelly in light of his firing.
“We are not going down a failed path. And I want to tell you something: this is a pattern,” Landry told reporters. “The guy that’s here now that wrote that contract cost Texas A&M 70-some million dollars. Right now, we’ve got a $53 million liability. We are not doing that again.”
That’s all well and good except there are a few misconceptions in the governor’s statement:
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While Scott Woodward hired Jimbo Fisher, he was not the one who extended Fisher’s contract and made the buyout so steep. That was Ross Bjork, Woodward’s successor, who gave the extension to Fisher in 2019.
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Landry has been bemoaning Louisiana taxpayers being on the hook for Brian Kelly’s buyout, but that money won’t come from us; instead, WDSU reported Monday night that the “lion’s share” of the buyout will be paid for by one donor
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For all of Landry’s talk about Woodward’s reckless spending we’re now going to add another $6.4 million to the $54 million burn pile and tell Scott Woodward to go away?
Woodward is not without faults, but LSU’s won four national championships from three different coaches that he hired (Jay Johnson, Kim Mulkey, and Jay Clark) and, unlike Governor Landry, Woodward is a Baton Rouge native and an LSU alum.
LSU is now without a head football coach, an athletic director, and a university president. What they do have, however, is a governor who seems hellbent on meddling in every aspect of LSU athletics.
