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Governor Jeff Landry is being praised by some for taking a stance against inflated contracts in college sports and ridiculed by others for political grandstanding that could make it harder. louisiana The state university will get a new football coach.
This much is clear: The Governor has been a vocal force in the ongoing turmoil in the sports world LSU recently.
The university lost its football coach and athletic director last week amid criticism from Landry, a smooth-talking Cajun populist and staunch ally of the president. donald trump,
The episode is the latest example of Landry’s involvement with LSU since taking over last year. He once revived the team’s tradition of bringing a live tiger onto the football field, publicly asked the school to discipline professors who criticized Trump in class and complained about LSU women’s basketball players not coming on the court to stand for the national anthem, though the team made no changes to its pre-game routine.
Know here what it is:
What did Landry say?
On October 25, the day after a 49–25 loss to Texas A&M, LSU football coach Brian Kelly was fired in the fourth season of a 10-year, $100 million deal.
On the day of Kelly’s dismissal, Landry said he hosted a meeting at the Governor’s Mansion on the evening of October 26 “to discuss the validity of the contract.” Landry has said he is concerned his state will have to pay for Kelly’s buyout, which is estimated to be about $54 million.
John Carmouche, chairman of LSU’s Board of Supervisors athletic committee, told the AP that the meeting at the governor’s mansion took place after Kelly had already been fired by athletic director Scott Woodward.
Although the governor’s concerns are legitimate, negotiations with Kelly are ongoing and private donors and nonprofits generally foot the bill for sports-related purchases at the university, Carmouche said.
A few days after Kelly’s firing, Landry told reporters at a Wednesday press conference that LSU’s athletic director would not select the next football coach.
“Hey, I’d rather let Donald Trump choose this than let him choose this,” Landry said. He also criticized Woodward’s previous tenure at Texas A&M, where he served as the school’s athletic director.
The next day, LSU parted ways with Woodward.
In a statement Thursday, Woodward said that “Others may reconsider or opine on my tenure and my decisions over the past six years as director of athletics, but I will not do that.”
Board Chairman Scott Ballard described Woodward’s departure as the result of “a mutual agreement after negotiations” between Woodward and the LSU board. Nine of the 18 members of the Board of Supervisors have been appointed by Landry since he took office in January 2024, and the governor will be able to appoint four more in 2026.
Carmouche, who like Ballard was appointed to the LSU board by Landry, denied that the governor’s comments had any influence on Woodward’s departure.
“We are all free people,” Carmouche said.
What’s next for LSU football?
At Friday’s press conference, LSU interim athletic director Verge Osberry, who was accompanied by Ballard and Carmouche, tried to reassure the public that the school’s athletic department “is not broken.”
A search committee consisting of Ausberry, Carmouche, Ballard and several others is looking for a new coach. The university board is scheduled to vote on Tuesday for a new president, having had no president since June.
Landry has denied that he will choose the next coach, but said he wants the new contract to be structured differently from Kelly’s.
“We’re going to put metrics on this, because I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill,” Landry told reporters.
what others are saying
The political pundit said, “The governor of Louisiana and the LSU board have damaged the reputation of our university.” james carvilleone Democrat told the AP. Carville has said he plans to burn his LSU diploma and football gear and is considering filing a defamation suit against Landry on Woodward’s behalf.
Carville hosted a welcome party for Woodward, a former political consultant and lobbyist, when he was hired by LSU in 2019. Under Woodward, LSU won six national championships in various sports, including football.
Richard Lipsey, former chairman of the Louisiana Board of Regents, who founded the influential Tiger Athletic Foundation and recommended Woodward’s appointment, said Landry’s comments about Woodward showed that he “wanted more control over LSU” and “wanted to run the athletics department.”
Landry’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Former LSU football coach Ed Orgeron, who led the team to a national title in 2019, said it is not unusual for the governor of Louisiana to take an active interest in the university’s football program. Landry’s predecessor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, hosted dinners for the university’s new recruiting class and practiced throwing passes with LSU receivers.
Current Louisiana Board of Regents Chairwoman Misty Cordell, an appointee of Landry, said the governor’s comments sparked constructive public discussion about the need for more guardrails to protect public universities amid rising costs in college sports: “He said what a lot of people were thinking.”
Representative Dixon Wallace McMakin, an LSU graduate who serves as the football team’s announcer, said Louisiana governors regularly try to influence the Tigers dating back to the time of flamboyant populist Huey Long a century ago and are sensitive to poor performance on the gridiron.
“It affects everybody and a governor feels it from all the voters across the state,” McMackin said. republican“Our standard is excellence, and we will not tolerate anything less than excellence in the state of Louisiana.”
Wilbert Pryor, who has served on the Louisiana Board of Regents for nearly a decade, said Landry’s perceived influence on the LSU athletics program will complicate the process of hiring a new coach, who is reluctant to put the governor on his shoulder.
“I don’t remember any governor making a decision on college football in my lifetime,” Pryor said. “You would think he would have other things to occupy his attention.”
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