LSU and athletic director Scott Woodward have agreed to part ways, the program announced Thursday night. This significant change in the Tigers organization comes amid a search for a football coach to hire a replacement for Brian Kelly, who was cut from the team last Sunday.
Woodward fell out of favor among LSU stakeholders, including Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who said Woodward won't hire next Tigers coach due to his track record of making colossal buyouts from fired team executives.
Kelly founded LSU with a whopping $53 million buyout. second highest in college football history. Woodward has a net worth of $6.4 million. The Tigers may not be able to make those totals given that both contracts include a mitigation clause with an obligation to find a new job.
“We thank Scott for his past six years as athletic director,” said Scott Ballard, chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors. “He has had great success at LSU and we wish him the best for the future. Our focus now is on moving the athletic department forward and best positioning LSU to realize its full potential.”
Longtime athletic administrator Verge Ausberry will serve as interim AD. He will be tasked with leading “all aspects of the athletic department, including the search for the next football coach,” LSU said. Ausbury served as executive deputy AD under Woodward and executive director of external affairs for LSU.
“I am honored that the Board of Overseers and University leadership have entrusted me to serve the University in this role,” Ausberry said in a press release. “…My responsibility is to move this athletic department forward, including hiring the best football coach in America to lead our program. Our coaches and staff will continue to work every day to provide our student-athletes with the best experience possible and set championship-level standards.”
Landry previously indicated that LSU's board of supervisors would oversee the search for a new football coach in Woodward's place. It is not clear whether this plan will continue, with Ausberry leading the search, or if Ausberry will have more authority in the hiring process.
“We don't go down the path of failure,” Landry said, “and I wanted to tell you something. This is a pattern. The guy who wrote [Kelly's] contract value Texas A&M 70-something million dollars. We have liabilities of $53 million. I believe we will find a great coach. … The supervisory board is going to create a committee and find us a coach.”
Woodward was hired by LSU in 2019 after working at Texas A&M, where he was responsible for recruiting Jimbo Fisher out of Texas State. Florida. He brought in Fisher for a significant sum but mistimed and substantially extended his contract, resulting in the largest stock buyback in history. college football history, leaving the Aggies on the hook for $76 million when they fired Fisher for the 2023 season.
Woodward similarly pulled Kelly away from Our Ladyinitially signing him to a 10-year contract worth $95 million in 2021.
Although neither Kelly nor Fisher lived up to the high expectations of their respective schools, Woodward did find success early in his career. The former Washington quarterback successfully recruited Chris Petersen from Boise State, revitalizing the Huskies' football program, which ultimately made the College Football Playoff in 2016.
Woodward's penchant for flashy recruiting energized programs every step of the way, but ultimately the moves had major financial consequences at Texas A&M and LSU.
Kelly's firing ends Woodward's six-year tenure at LSU. Kelly wasn't a good fit for the Tigers from the start, but showed tremendous promise as a longtime standout at Notre Dame. He never lost fewer than three games in a season in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, although he failed to make the CFP.
The battle to break into the SEC's most elite circle came to a head last weekend with the Tigers' upset loss at home to No. 3 Texas A&M. Chants of “Fire Kelly” echoed throughout the deflated Tiger Stadium.
