Scott Woodward is no longer LSU's athletic director, the school announced Thursday night, just days after the Tigers fired coach Brian Kelly in the midst of a 5-3 season.
Verge Ausberry, executive assistant sporting director, will be interim sporting director.
“We thank Scott for the past six years of service as athletic director,” said Scott Ballard, chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors. “He was very successful at LSU and we wish him nothing but the best in the future. Our focus now is on moving the athletic department forward and better positioning LSU to reach its full potential.”
LSU will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. ET on Friday to discuss the athletic director change.
Woodward drew the ire of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who publicly criticized him several times this week. At a news conference Wednesday, Landry said Woodward would not hire LSU's next football coach.
On Thursday's “Pat McAfee Show,” Landry added: “There are a number of bad contracts that seem to have followed Scott Woodward.”
The avalanche of comments from Landry made Woodward's departure inevitable. According to a source, the expectation is that Woodward will be paid the more than $6 million he is owed for his contract.
In a letter to Tiger Nation on Thursday evening, Woodward said his departure comes “with a heavy heart but also with my typical optimism.”
“Others may summarize or opine on my tenure and decisions over the past six years as Director of Athletics, but I will not do so,” Woodward wrote in the letter. “Rather, I will focus on the absolute joy that LSU Athletics brings to the residents of our state and the Baton Rouge community. I will cherish the incredible relationships I have built within the university community and beyond the borders of our campus. And I will fondly remember the SEC and national championships for the joy they brought to our student-athletes, coaches, staff, university community and our incredible fans.
“Our University will always have a special place in my heart and I will never be too far from LSU.”
Woodward is a veteran college administrator with political experience and an LSU graduate, the kind of experience right for this kind of political football. He had been LSU's athletic director since 2019, a career that included a national football title, the hiring of Kim Mulkey as women's basketball coach and the firing of men's coach Will Wade.
Mulkey, who led LSU to its first women's basketball title in 2023, declined to attend a postgame news conference after coaching the Tigers in an exhibition game Thursday night. Assistant Bob Starkey, who went in her place, told reporters that Mulkey was “heartbroken” by Woodward's departure.
“In 40 years of coaching, I have worked with two phenomenal athletic directors,” Starkey said. “One was Skip Bertman [at LSU]. The other was Scott Woodward.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
