The 2025 LSU football season has turned into a disaster. The Tigers fired Brian Kelly after a blowout loss at home against Texas A&M and are now the best coaching job on the market. However, there seem to be many issues surrounding the job because the Louisiana Governor, Jeff Landry, got involved and has thrown a big wrench into this entire process.
On Wednesday afternoon, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry held a press conference. One topic was what would happen at LSU and the football program. Landry seems to be heavily involved in the process, making it even more different from the rest of the country. As Yahoo Sports Senior College Football Reporter Ross Dellenger points out, this has also led some people to rip into Landry and his involvement in this process.
“I’m embarrassed as I can be,” said one prominent school figure. “This is some embarrassing bulls***.”
Louisiana's government structure gives the governor much power and leeway to control the state-level LSU. The governor directly appoints the 14-member LSU Board of Supervisors, each with staggered terms. Landry has appointed six of them, and he’s due to appoint four more next year when their terms expire. This gives him control over most members the previous governor selected and the other two who hired Woodward in 2019.
Jeff Landry wants Woodward gone, but the board has rejected his calls to fire him. Woodward has nearly four years remaining on his contract and would be owed more than $6 million if fired without cause. However, Woodward's job will become clearer once the school finishes hiring a new president.
“Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach,” Landry said from behind the podium on Wednesday. “Hell, I’d let Donald Trump select him before I’d let him do it. The Board of Supervisors is going to come up with a committee and find us a coach.”
The board's chair, Scott Ballard, was unaware that the board would form a search committee. When told of the governor’s announcement during a local television interview on Wednesday night, Ballard said, “No, I didn’t know that.”
