Politics in Louisiana have always been, well, a little bit different. The sitting Governor openly commenting on the head coach of a college football program might not be too common in other states. But Louisiana isn’t most states so Jeff Landry is now publicly running point on the drama surrounding LSU and Brian Kelly.
Kelly was relieved of his duties this week after the Tigers were blown out by Texas A&M. After being touted as possible national title contenders this season, LSU never took off, even after an impressive road victory to start the season over Clemson. At least it looked impressive at the time.
LSU is 5-3 overall, but 2-3 in SEC play. And clearly, patience ran out with Brian Kelly considering he was going to be in his fourth season without a playoff appearance. That’s not to mention his unfavorable ratings that saw plenty of people around the college football world celebrating his firing.
At the middle of that firing is Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. It was reported by Yahoo Sports that the meeting handling Kelly’s departure was held at the governor’s mansion. Furthermore, LSU is without a permanent president and most decisions are being made by the school’s Board of Supervisors, most of which are being appointed by Landry. After the loss to A&M, Landry tweeted that the board should not raise ticket prices for next year.
So when Jeff Landry was asked about the opening and hiring a new coach, he threw LSU athletic director Scott Woodward under the bus, saying that the board would hire a new coach and not the school’s AD. He even said he would let Donald Trump hire a new coach before Woodward.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry just slammed LSU athletic director Scott Woodward on Brian Kelly fiasco.
Says he will not hire next coach
“No, I can tell you right now Scott Woodward is not selecting the next head coach. I’d let Donald Trump select it before I let him do it…” pic.twitter.com/4sXNglsuJE
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) October 29, 2025
“No. I can tell you right now Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach. Hell, I’ll let Donald Trump select him before I let him do it,” Landry said. “The Board of Supervisors is going to come up with a committee and they’re going to find us a coach.”
Landry also managed to express his anger towards agents in the process of complaining about Kelly’s $54 million buyout that the school is going to have to foot the bill for unless he finds a new job. If only he could also find the school responsible for giving Kelly that massive contract and buyout, maybe then all of his problems would be solved.
Reacting live to the press conference, Paul Finebaum predicted the end of Woodward’s tenure as LSU AD and said, ““I have rarely ever seen anything quite like that. But the governor is the de facto head of not only the state of Louisiana, but the LSU coaching search.”
While all of this seems like an insane situation to fans of pretty much any other team in college football, Jeff Landry at least clarified on his own social media page that he’s not going to hire a new LSU head coach directly.
I want to reiterate I am not picking the next coach at LSU.
As Governor, it is my responsibility to protect the hard-earned tax dollars our citizens pay to the state. Everyone recognizes the tremendous amount of money at stake—money that our citizens could be on the hook for. In… pic.twitter.com/GawaKVouQB
— Governor Jeff Landry (@LAGovJeffLandry) October 29, 2025
As of last year, 40 of 50 states had their highest paid public employee as a football or basketball coach. So while this may be one of the first modern instances of a state’s governor being so publicly involved in a school’s football decisions, it may not be the last.
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