Louisiana has a long history of governors that define themselves by their relationship to LSU football. Jeff Landry is the first one to do it in the modern media age, where it’s not just newspapers and radio networks looking for stories and it’s not a limited amount of time and space they need to fill.
In 2025, podcasters, networks, blogs, and all kinds of social media outlets are looking for content. For the ones that cover college football and/or politics, Jeff Landry’s LSU obsession has been a godsend.
He inserted himself into the conversation about replacing Brian Kelly last week with a press conference performance that seemed to come off a pile of SNL scripts rejected for being too stupid.
Big, goofy Southern accent? Check. Mention Donald Trump? Check. Twice! Have a whole bunch of facts wrong? Oh, brother, hell yes, that’s a check!
The reaction to Landry has been interesting to watch. Nationally, the guy is a punchline. In Louisiana, he’s a pariah. His approval ratings hit an all-time low before he started trying to hijack the LSU coaching search. God only knows what they look like now.
Dan Patrick has all the credibility in the world with sports fans, and he probably echoed a lot of their feelings after hearing Landry’s now-infamous remarks, when the governor insisted LSU athletics director Scott Woodward would not get to hire the next coach.
“That’s SEC football right there. That’s SEC football,” Patrick said. “‘Yeah, I’m gonna throw my athletic director under the bus.’”
The people who have skin in this LSU game feel very differently. You probably saw former LSU player and current ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark with an impassioned defense of Woodward on First Take. He called out Landry’s desire to erect a statue of Charlie Kirk and the fact that he dropped Donald Trump’s name twice in the press conference as proof that the governor doesn’t know or care what he is doing.
You may not have seen comments from Matt Moscona, the host of After Further Review, a sports radio show syndicated across Louisiana. He called Landry’s speech “one of the most disingenuous, absurd, self-serving, self-indulgent, vindictive moments I can remember in a program that has a long history of embarrassing moments.”
That’s the dichotomy of how this moment in LSU history is being discussed. If you aren’t connected to Louisiana or the Tigers, then this probably makes you laugh. You see an ego maniac that has more opinions than information and talks like Bill Dauterive’s cousin Gilbert. It’s the perfect recipe for comedy.
If LSU football matters to you, though, Jeff Landry is a clown and a roadblock. Even in ruby red Louisiana, a place Donald Trump won in 2024 with more than 60% of the vote, invoking the president’s name in connection with Tiger football earns a Liz Lemon-calibre eyeroll.
Hunt Palmer of 104.5 ESPN in Baton Rouge openly questioned how much Landry knows, not only about college football in general, but also about the contract that he is so passionate about protecting taxpayers from.
“He says, this is his quote. ‘Everything I’ve done, I’ve done with very thorough research.’ Really? Research on what?” Palmer asked on his Friday show. “We don’t know if there’s any precedent for the state paying out the coach. We don’t know if there was taxpayer funds used on the stadium. What are we researching? What thorough research did we do other than looking at the contract?”.
Landry, a supposed lifelong LSU fan, has been wrong over and over again about some of the things he insists are a problem. John Carmouche, who was appointed to the LSU Board of Supervisors by Landry, said in a press conference last week that Landry was incorrect in saying that taxpayers get stuck paying for any college coach’s buyout. During the infamous rant that thrust Landry into the spotlight, he said the media should look into the fact that Brian Kelly and Jimbo Fisher, the coaches set to receive the two highest buyouts ever after getting fired, have the same agent. They do not. He told Moscona that the chance of LSU “getting to the Bowl Championship series is pretty null.” A fair point considering the BCS hasn’t existed for 13 years.
It makes sense that a sitting governor would not have time to follow college football, and frankly, given the demands of this moment in history, a governor being 13 years behind on his knowledge of the sport is forgivable…maybe even admirable. But Landry insists he knows ball and he belongs in this discussion. That’s what has Louisianans and LSU fans so worried. They remember what happened when he insisted that putting a live tiger back on the sidelines for the Alabama game was just what LSU needed.
On its face, LSU should be the best job available right now. Given the rate at which Louisiana produces elite football talent, it should be one of the three or four best jobs in the country, period. But Louisiana gonna Louisiana and that could turn back the clock in a way Tiger fans don’t want.
If you didn’t grow up in the South in the 80s and 90s, you probably don’t know and may not even believe that LSU used to be a laughingstock. The Alabamas of the world penciled in a victory every time they saw the Tigers on their schedule.
It’s a long fall back down to that level. Cutting bait on Brian Kelly was supposed to stop any further slide in that direction. The school should be going to market with its pick of the best candidates for any job in the country, but Landry has thrown a wrench into the works and made a mess of what should be easy.
“The governor had a bone to pick, an axe to grind,” Moscona said, “and now LSU, unfortunately, is going to be worse off for it.”
Donald Trump is popular in Louisiana. Invoking his name is an easy way to score political points. Jeff Landry wants to be seen and lauded by Trump, and he’s using LSU to do it. The national media sees something to mock. Louisianans and LSU fans see a looming crisis.
Demetri Ravanos has been heard on sports radio stations across the Carolinas and has written about the sports media since 2017. He currently hosts This Team is Killing Us, a podcast about the Carolina Panthers, and the College Football Bubble Bath, a video series found on TikTok every Friday.
