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On Tuesday, each member of the LSU Board of Supervisors will make a crucial decision by voting for the next LSU president. It will be part of their legacy.
With the recent chaos and controversy involving the firing of football coach Brian Kelly and the ousting of athletic director Scott Woodward—both clearly orchestrated by Gov. Jeff Landry—eyes across the country are focused on the Tuesday vote.
Will it be an independent decision by the board based on who is the most qualified leader for the LSU System, or another outcome controlled by the governor and directed by his board surrogate, Lee Mallet?
Tiger Nation and the rest of America witnessed our governor’s embarrassing tantrum last week. He injected himself into the Kelly dismissal and then publicly gutted Woodward and got his political revenge by declaring the athletic director would not be hiring LSU’s next football coach.
Wham, bam and Landry makes Louisiana a national laughingstock—again—ridiculed by the national media. He doubled down on his power trip by making several broadcast appearances and making a fool of himself by implying he was merely protecting public tax dollars from paying Kelly’s $54 million buyout.
There may have been a scintilla of truth behind the 54 million-to-1 odds of public-dollar exposure, but even Landry’s appointed board chair and the head of the athletic committee both made clear at a press conference last Friday that “no state tax dollars ever have or ever will be used for a buyout.”
Landry, who sees himself as a modern-day Huey Long, wanted Kelly and Woodward gone and had those in charge carry out the orders. This isn’t about whether Kelly or Woodward deserved to keep their jobs, but how it was handled—and in the case of Woodward, the true reasons behind the alleged “mutual decision to part ways.”
LSU’s Friday press conference was equally embarrassing when John Carmouche, the board’s athletics chair, was asked if the governor was involved in the “separation” with Woodward. The real-life attorney looked into the camera and, with a straight face, said, “No. The governor was not involved.” Seriously. I laughed.
We all heard Landry at an earlier press gathering emphatically state that Woodward would not be involved in the hiring of LSU’s next football coach, declaring he would let President Donald Trump choose the coach before Woodward. That was the beginning of the end, and everyone knew who was calling the shots.
So now we come to the board’s selection of the new LSU president. This person is ultimately responsible for hiring the next athletic director, who reports to him and is then responsible for hiring the next football coach. All the coaches at LSU answer to the athletic director—period. So, the next president is key to leading Louisiana’s flagship university and system—and overseeing those who run the athletics program. It’s a very big job.
Louisiana needs a strong flagship—and LSU needs a capable and experienced president. The flagship system includes eight campuses with nearly 42,000 students and 1,400 faculty members. It comprises two medical schools, a law school, a veterinary school, Ag Center and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. LSU A&M in Baton Rouge is a Research I institution that awards hundreds of doctoral degrees. So, which of the three finalists comes from a university similar to LSU? Experience at that level is essential for the next president.
Each LSU board member faces a decision on Tuesday. Having personally served 12 years on the LSU board, I understand that their obligation isn’t to a governor but to LSU and Louisiana. The oath they took makes that clear. Simply, the board has the duty to select the leader with the experience, integrity, independence and leadership to move LSU forward—and get us out of this mess we are in.
As a Louisiana resident and LSU alum, I pray the board realizes its vote on Tuesday should be a legacy vote for LSU—not a political one.
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