Gov. Landry says LSU athletic director won’t choose next head football coach

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry addressed reports of his involvement in the firing of LSU head coach Brian Kelly and what he thinks should happen next in the search for a new coach.

Landry’s comments were made during a Wednesday press conference about state-funded SNAP benefits.

Regarding Kelly’s firing, Landry said he didn’t play a particular role but the overall monetary effect of the contract buyout.

“My role is about the fiscal effect of firing a coach under a terrible contract,” he said. “All I care about is what the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for. I was also not happy with the fact that we were raising ticket prices while we were having a losing season and paying a coach $100 million, and we were not getting the results. I have no animosity against Brian Kelly, but it had gotten to a point, and they realized that. The spirit of the team needed a change, so that was made, so we got to move on.”

He confirmed he had a meeting at the governor’s mansion on the same day that Kelly was fired.

“I hosted a meeting at the governor’s mansion to talk about legalities, to talk about cost, to talk about who pays for it, to talk about what the effect of it is, and it was a meeting to discuss the legality of the contract,” said Landry.

Landry said that LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward will not participate in selecting the next coach, suggesting that the LSU Board of Supervisors could create a committee to fill the role.

“We are not going down a failed path,” Landry said. “We have a $53 million liability; we are not doing that again. I believe we’re going to find a great coach. Maybe let President [Donald] Trump pick them, he loves winners. I’m not going to be picking the next coach. But I can promise you that we’re going to pick a coach, and we’re going to make sure that coach is successful and is compensated properly, and we’re going to put metrics on it because I’m tired of awarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill. Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach. I’ll let Trump select them before I let him do it.”

Louisiana First News has reached out to LSU for comment.

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