The wild feud between Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and LSU athletic director Scott Woodward was a long time coming. After Woodward fired LSU football coach Brian Kelly last week, Landry blasted Woodward in a press conference and declared that he wouldn’t be involved in hiring the next coach.

Landry and Woodward have long been at odds, according to Yahoo Sports, with Landry holding a “personal vendetta” against Woodward. After LSU athletic administrators decided to fire Kelly, Landry held a meeting at the governor’s mansion with donors and select university administrators to authorize the decision, the outlet reported. At that meeting, Landry strongly expressed his desire to have Woodward fired, per the report.

“He’s got it out for him,” a Louisiana political figure told Yahoo Sports. “This governor picks fights and he never forgets a slight.” Some of that tension stems from the fact that Woodward, a former political lobbyist, is more progressive than the conservative Landry.

Soon after Landry was sworn in in 2024, he became combative with the school over a number of disagreements. At one point, he declared a sign of disrespect to the country and threatened to revoke athletic scholarships. Later that year, he was adamant about restoring the school’s tradition of parading a live tiger around the field before football games—a practice the school had stopped several years ago.

Landry had a Bengal tiger transported from Florida and paraded around the field before a game, while the school’s actual live tiger mascot was not used. Those two decisions left the school feeling “angry, scarred and embarrassed,” Yahoo Sports reported.

Then, this year, Landry urged Woodward and other school administrators to hire back Will Wade to coach the basketball team, according to the outlet. Wade had coached LSU during a successful five-year run between 2017 and 2022, recording a 105-51 record and bringing the Tigers to three NCAA tournaments.

However, Wade became embroiled in an NCAA investigation for paying players, which led Woodward to fire him. Wade then rehabilitated his image with McNeese State over the past two years, earning a job at NC State. As LSU finished a disappointing year last season under Matt McMahon, Landry urged Woodward to fire McMahon and bring back Wade—an idea Woodward refused, Yahoo Sports reported.

Just last week, Landry publicly slammed Woodward for giving Kelly his “terrible” contract, which resulted in a $54 million buyout needing to be paid. The feud between the governor and the athletic director shows no signs of cooling anytime soon.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/30/sports/why-louisiana-gov-has-got-it-out-for-lsu-ad-after-54-million-brian-kelly-mess/