The biggest concern in Louisiana?

It’s hard to overstate how absurd this is. The governor of Louisiana muscled his way into LSU’s football search, publicly benched Athletic Director Scott Woodward from the hiring process, and Woodward is now out. That’s not leadership; it’s political grandstanding in shoulder pads. Yes, Brian Kelly’s mega-deal and $54 million exit are ugly. Fire away at the contract if you must. But using that as a pretext to sideline—and then effectively topple—the AD in the middle of a high-stakes search is reckless governance and terrible athletics management.

Context matters: under Woodward, LSU stacked trophies—women’s basketball (2023) and baseball (2023, 2025)—while elevating the entire department. That track record doesn’t vanish because one football hire didn’t deliver a title on demand. Governors should worry about budgets, schools, crime, infrastructure—all the unglamorous things that actually change lives. Meddling in a coaching search isn’t “accountability”; it’s performative politics that undermines institutional competence.

Kelly’s firing was announced Oct. 27; on Oct. 30 the governor proclaimed Woodward wouldn’t touch the next hire; by Oct. 31, Woodward was gone. That timeline screams interference, not prudence. It also kneecaps LSU’s leverage with elite candidates—who wants a job where the governor holds the whistle and the board runs the depth chart? If you’re trying to restore fiscal discipline, you don’t burn down your org chart midseason and advertise chaos to every agent in America. This is small-ball politics masquerading as stewardship, and Tigers fans—and Louisiana taxpayers—deserve a lot better.