The sordid tale of LSU football, the Louisiana governor and a yearslong feud Ross Dellenger October 31, 2025 at 5:17 AM 0 They say history has a way of repeating itself. Shrug all you want at this overused phrase. But there's plenty of documented evidence to prove this life of ours is nothing but a circle. Round and round we go. This week, in south Louisiana, where the state's key political figures have been for decades uncomfortably intertwined with the state's flagship football program, history is on replay. By now, you've either heard about or seen the news conference of Louisiana Gov.
- - The sordid tale of LSU football, the Louisiana governor and a years-long feud
Ross Dellenger October 31, 2025 at 5:17 AM
0
They say history has a way of repeating itself.
Shrug all you want at this overused phrase. But there's plenty of documented evidence to prove this life of ours is nothing but a circle.
Round and round we go.
This week, in south Louisiana, where the state's key political figures have been for decades uncomfortably intertwined with the state's flagship football program, history is on replay.
By now, you've either heard about or seen the news conference of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry publicly eviscerating the sitting athletic director of Louisiana State University.
Behind a podium in the Louisiana Capitol, Landry, a brash and big-talking Republican, chided Scott Woodward for signing a "terrible" contract with now-fired coach Brian Kelly; bemoaned the $53 million buyout now left for the state's public school to pay; announced that Woodward, in fact, will not be hiring the next football coach; and suggested LSU will never again agree to such a contract while the school actively searches for its next coach in a market where such contracts are quite common.
The entire scene seemed carved from a skit, ripped from the pages of some sort of Louisiana comic book: the guvnah, flanked by his lieutenants in the hall of Louisiana's capitol building, his words coated in a fiery Cajun twang, berating one of the state's most prominent public employees who, as of this point, does remain employed.
If you wish to know how the college sports world received this public verbal flogging, look no further than the text messages and phone calls that flooded to this writer from noteworthy folks within the industry.
They were left amazed, shell-shocked and in real, honest-to-God disbelief.
Is this fake?
It's all too real.
Even for Louisiana, a place with a history of jarring political acts and unusual public behavior, Landry's unfurling on Wednesday serves as the sauce piquante (spicy!) of the long, sordid affair between LSU football and the state's political realm.
Are you ready for a history lesson?
This connection between LSU football and its governor is steeped in history, rooted in passion and adorned with truly unbelievable tales — one former Louisiana governor, Huey Long, insisted on calling plays during actual football games and another, John McKeithen, skipped his own election party to watch the Tigers play. In fact, Long, a Louisiana governor and U.S. Senator in the 1920s and '30s, authored the LSU fight song still played today, often led the band onto the field, argued with officials during games, delivered pregame speeches to the football team and, once, ran out a coach after he forbade Long from speaking to the team at halftime.
If these seem far-flung tales embellished over time, let me be clear: They are real.
Louisiana Gov. Huey Long tries to reason with some referees at an LSU game during the 1930s. He was upset about all the penalties at the goal line. (LSU Libraries Special Collections)
"In Louisiana, politics and football are our two favorite contact sports," said Marty Chabert, a noted Louisiana political figure and former state senator, in an interview years ago. "Politics and LSU football have long, long been joined at the hip."
There is recent evidence of such a bond too. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's support for Les Miles kept the coach employed well after school officials planned to fire him. And LSU's last coach, Ed Orgeron, was close enough with former Gov. John Bel Edwards that the two often texted one another and spent time together at a duck camp only accessible by airboat.
But what happened Wednesday was something of unprecedented proportions in the state and across college athletics — a historic public takedown from Louisiana's top-elected official of his own school's top athletic administrator, in the middle of a search for what traditionally is the most important person in the entire state: the LSU football coach.
"I'm embarrassed as I can be," said one prominent school figure. "This is some embarrassing bulls***."
'He's got it out for him'
There is more to this story.
Why would the governor of Louisiana do this? Will Woodward, despite hiring two national championship-winning coaches, be fired? How does Kelly, his contract and unresolved buyout fit into this? What will come of LSU's coaching search?
Like any good Louisiana story, this one features all the hallmarks: deep political feuds, sneaky backroom deals, colorful and eccentric personalities, and unexplainable and all-together ridiculous public theatrics.
"We're in a state where football means more here than it does in other parts of the country, and we've got only one major university," said Jim Engster, a media titan in Baton Rouge who's covered Louisiana politics since 1979, years ago.
"LSU football is paramount to any governor," he continued. "No governor is going to say they don't care about it — that would be political suicide. They preside over the action on Saturday night as if they're some regal emperor ruling from the stands."
Let's start this story with what happened Sunday.
Hours after LSU athletic administrators began down the path of firing Kelly, Landry gathered board members, donors and select university administrators at the Louisiana governor's mansion to formally authorize the firing of Kelly. Despite several members of LSU's athletic administrative staff attending, Woodward was not one of them, perhaps not invited considering the next fact in this story.
While at the gathering Sunday evening, sources told Yahoo Sports that Landry strongly suggested to those present he wanted Woodward fired.
Though known now for months, if not years, to many people in Baton Rouge, the governor, for an assortment of reasons that we'll soon get to, holds a personal vendetta against LSU's athletic director.
"He's got it out for him," said one leading Louisiana political figure with knowledge of their relationship. "This governor picks fights and he never forgets a slight."
Woodward is a Louisiana native, a former political lobbyist and the benefactor of an old-fashioned Louisiana coup in April 2019, when powerful figures, in the dark of night, brought home their native son from Texas A&M to replace Joe Alleva atop the athletic department. He returned to where he started: Woodward joined LSU 25 years ago, leaving his politics gig to join the staff of then-chancellor Mark Emmert, who later took Woodward to the University of Washington as his athletic director.
Woodward avoids many public appearances or press availabilities. Like any good Louisiana politician, he'd prefer to keep things quiet, work in the shadows, possibly even operate in the backroom of a backroom in a certain Baton Rouge seafood house.
Years ago, on a visit to that very restaurant, this writer was introduced to "the place where the real deals get done," the owner told us, as he pushed open a trap door built into the wall of the eatery's backroom, revealing beyond it a cove with a television, mini kitchen and — wouldn't you know it — a card table.
Clearly, Woodward's connections within the state run deep. He's known for his big-swing coaching hires — Chris Petersen at Washington, Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M, Brian Kelly at LSU — and he does not let the almighty dollar stand in the way. He originally signed Fisher and Kelly to deals guaranteeing them a combined $200 million in two of the most lavish contracts in college sports history.
His popularity soared after his baseball hire, Jay Johnson, and his women's basketball hire, Kim Mulkey, each won national championships, and his football hire, Kelly, reached the SEC championship game in his first season in 2022.
But as Kelly's tenure began to wobble, a gubernatorial election thrust Landry into office in 2024. Within a few short months, the governor put himself at the center of two controversial events involving LSU.
During a Fox News hit on national television, Landry criticized LSU's perennial powerhouse of a women's basketball team and its coach, Mulkey, for her players remaining in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem before an NCAA tournament game, pronouncing it as an act of disrespect to the country and even threatening players' athletic scholarships.
There was one problem with that assessment: Many college basketball teams often do not take the floor until after the anthem. And that includes LSU.
Later that year, Landry was so insistent on the return of one of LSU's oldest traditions — parading a caged live Tiger around the football field before games — that he had transported to Baton Rouge a Bengal tiger from Florida named Omar Bradley, who was whisked around the field before a game against Alabama while the school's real live tiger mascot, Mike VII, rested in his 15,000-square foot enclosure across the street.
On the advice of the university's veterinarian, LSU had stopped the tradition years ago.
Both incidents left many at the school angry, scarred and embarrassed.
And then, earlier this spring, something else happened.
Digging into the rivalry
Landry, 54, is not an LSU alum.
He attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana, which later became UL-Lafayette and is known now as Louisiana. As a side note here that should not go unnoticed, Louisiana and LSU have historically been at odds — a little brother-big brother syndrome where the powerhouse in Baton Rouge attempts to politically keep the smaller school in Lafayette at bay.
But back to Landry. He earned his law degree from Loyola University in New Orleans in 2004, became an attorney in New Iberia and, years later, began his political career by winning a seat in the state legislature before his election in 2015 as attorney general.
For years, Landry had a front-row seat to LSU athletics from his perch from the Louisiana Capitol, a building that sits about three miles north of campus. This includes the five-year run of men's basketball coach Will Wade, who won 105 games from 2017-22, took the Tigers to more NCAA tournaments (three) than they had the previous decade and, eventually, found himself in the crosshairs of an NCAA investigation for paying players.
Woodward fired him.
Wade's coaching rehabilitation tour began just down the road from Baton Rouge a year later, when he proceeded to win 50 games in two seasons at McNeese in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Last spring, as LSU completed a dismal season under third-year coach Matt McMahon, Landry had an idea: hire back Wade.
He urged Woodward and university administrators to do so.
"Scott refused to do it," said one person with knowledge of the situation.
The feud runs even deeper, rooted in political ideologies and the friends in which they keep. Woodward is an adept politician with allies on either side of the aisle and a long history of a more open and progressive view of the world.
Landry is strident in his conservative beliefs, a disruptor built in the image of U.S. President Donald Trump, not shy of creating adversaries and constantly preaching his work for the everyday people — just like he did during Wednesday's news conference.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago Club on Jan. 9, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) (Scott Olson via Getty Images)
Landry skewered Woodward for agreeing to a contract with Kelly that's now left the school to pay (or, perhaps, not pay?) a buyout of $53 million. The buyout remains under negotiation (we'll get to more about that soon).
"My role is about the fiscal effect of firing a coach under a terrible contract," Landry said. "I care about what the taxpayers are on the hook on."
On Sunday, after Woodward made the decision to fire Kelly, Landry was angry enough about the buyout figure that he delayed any announcement or finalization of the decision until that gathering at his mansion. The meeting was about the "legalities and cost" of the contract, he said Wednesday, to "talk about who pays for it."
The governor suggested during his news conference that public money may be used to pay for the buyout, though that would be unusual. Normally, such buyouts are funded by donations.
But Kelly's buyout remains, somewhat, unresolved.
For now, the school appears prepared to continue contractually paying Kelly — $800,000 in monthly installments — but any long-term agreement to pay the full $53 million has not been reached despite negotiations between Kelly's representatives and LSU's counsel.
The school specifically noted in its announcement that buyout details would be announced at a later date — quite possibly at the behest of the governor himself, who seems against paying the full fare even if it means resorting to the legal system.
"We may end up in a Louisiana court room," predicted one person.
Does a top coach want to step into this mess?
On Wednesday, during SEC athletic director meetings in Birmingham, Alabama, one person was noticeably absent: Woodward.
This is a curious and rare occurrence. There are very few in-person meetings such as this one, perhaps four or five annually. Were the circumstances in Baton Rouge bad enough for Woodward to bail on the gathering? It appears so.
The governor's comments and Woodward's absence point toward the end of his tenure as athletic director, some believe. In fact, the university is poised next week to hire a permanent university president. Of a list of three finalists, McNeese president Wade Rousse is thought to be the favorite, handpicked by the governor himself.
Louisiana's governance structure gives a wide array of autonomy to the governor on matters at the state's flagship school. As one person quipped, "He can fire anyone on campus." Landry has significant influence over the university's highest decision-making group: the 14-member LSU Board of Supervisors, who each have staggered terms and are appointed by the governor himself. Landry has appointed six of them and he's due to appoint four more next year when their terms expire, giving him control of a majority of members that, one, were selected by the previous governor, Edwards, a Democrat; and, two, hired Woodward in 2019.
The board has, so far, neglected to follow the governor's wishes in removing Woodward, but the hiring of a new university president paves the way for clarity with the position. Woodward has nearly four years remaining on his contract and would be owed more than $6 million if fired without cause.
Woodward wouldn't be the first in such a position. Bill Tate, a respected and experienced higher education leader, left LSU's presidency job for Rutgers earlier this year in a move that many around the university believe stemmed from Landry's influence.
Would Woodward voluntarily choose to leave after such a public display from the governor? After all, the move strips him of his biggest responsibility: hiring a football coach.
"Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach," Landry seethed 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 latter part — that a search committee would be formed by the board — was news to the board's chair, Scott Ballard, who, when told of the governor's announcement during a local television interview on Wednesday night, said: "No, I didn't know that."
That's probably because the creation of a search committee — little did the governor know — was already in process, led by Woodward and LSU deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry. The future of that committee is now unclear.
The drama greatly impacts the candidate pool for a job that, most experts contend, is the best open gig in all of college football. At a time when alignment and resourcing is at its most important, LSU, suddenly, seems to be problematic in both areas.
"They are turning a top-three job into a s***show," says one agent who represents football coaches.
"Does the governor know how damaging this is to their search?" asked another.
Landry seems determined to be the one guy who plans to stop the incessant trend of rapidly escalating coaching salaries, even if it is to the detriment of an LSU football program on the hunt for a coach in a historically busy and costly coaching cycle.
During Wednesday's news conference, he emphatically announced that any new coach will not receive anything as pricy and lengthy as Kelly's contract (10 years, $100 million with 90% guaranteed). The problem with this? Whether you like it or not, that's the current market for a top-10 college coach.
Said one Louisiana figure: "If LSU football implodes, it lays at the feet of the governor."
Of course, that's not so different from the past.
As it turns out, Sunday's decision to fire Kelly — a final stamp of approval from the governor himself — isn't the first such incident in this state's sordid history.
In 1931 after a loss to rival Alabama, Long, the gregarious and involved Louisiana governor and LSU superfan, held a gathering of board members at — you guessed it — the Louisiana governor's mansion.
Then and there, the governor fired LSU football coach Russ Cohen.
At least in Louisiana this year, history is on replay.
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: Sports
Published: October 30, 2025 at 08:27PM on Source: CORR MAG
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