The LSU Tigers got an early jump on their national coaching search when they fired Brian Kelly on Sunday.
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The Tigers named Frank Wilson as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. LSU is on a bye in Week 10 and will next play No. 4 Alabama on Nov. 8.
The Tigers’ coaching job will be one of the top gigs on the already crowded market this year. The program needs to make sure they land a home-run hire, as Kelly’s buyout cost LSU approximately $53 million.
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During his news conference on Wednesday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry revealed a major decision for how the national coaching would happen. He made it clear that Tigers athletic director Scott Woodward would not select the next head coach.
“No. I can tell you right now, Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach,” Landry said, via video posted on X by Matt Moscona. “Hell, I would let (President) Donald Trump select it before I let him do it… But the Board of Supervisors is going to come up with a committee, and they’re going to find us a coach.”
Woodward has come under fire after Kelly’s firing. He hired Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M.
When Woodward took over at LSU, he tried to poach Fisher from the Aggies, leading to Texas A&M giving Fisher a massive contract extension and eventually the largest buyout (approximately $76 million) in the history of college football.
With Fisher signing the extension from Texas A&M, Woodward hired Kelly, and now LSU has a large buyout to pay after four seasons.
Landry suggested those large contracts were a “failed path” and said LSU would not repeat that mistake with its next hire.
“We are not going down a failed path,” Landry said. “I want to tell you something. This is a pattern. The guy that’s here now that wrote that contract (Woodward) cost Texas A&M $70-something million. Right now, we’ve got a $53 million liability. We are not doing that again…
“I’m not gonna be picking the next coach. But I can promise you, we’re going to pick a coach and we’re going to make sure that that coach is successful and we’re going to make sure that he’s compensated properly and we’re going to put metrics on it because I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill.”
LSU might have limited options to compete with Florida and Penn State if they cannot offer a large contract to a prospective candidate. It’ll be interesting to see if the Tigers go for a big-name coach like Lane Kiffin or decide to go with a promising up-and-coming coach who won’t require as much money and security.
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