Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry: 'Emphatically, I am not picking the coach'

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry raised eyebrows on Wednesday when he was speaking with reporters and stated that LSU athletics director Scott Woodward will not be making the next hire for the program. He was not ambiguous about that.

However, in the aftermath, many assumed that Landry was positioning himself to potentially have a big hand in hiring the next coach. If not directly, by his influence on the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Jeff Landry pushed back hard on that notion on Thursday. He did so in an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

“No. Listen, emphatically, I am not picking the coach,” Landry said. “That is not my job. The only reason I’m really involved, Pat, is because this contract that currently is between the state of Louisiana, the Louisiana State University system and Brian Kelly leaves the taxpayers of the state on the bill.”

There’s also been pushback on that front, and it’s not clear how exactly the taxpayers are on the hook for Brian Kelly’s buyout. But that was a point that Jeff Landry doubled down on repeatedly during his appearance with McAfee.

“There is misinformation out there,” Landry said. “People are saying, ‘Oh no, the taxpayers aren’t liable.’ They’re not reading the contract. On Sunday I had a meeting with the lawyers as they were talking about whether or not Brian Kelly was terminated, whether or not they were going to fire him, and all I cared about was the taxpayers of our state.

“And that contract binds the state of Louisiana. If we have to pay $53 million and somebody else doesn’t step up to foot that bill, the state of Louisiana has to foot that bill. That is in the contract.”

That was a point that Jeff Landry had also made on Wednesday. He spoke to that in his press conference.

Jeff Landry: ‘We’ve got a $53 million liability’

When asked about whether he’d make sure the next LSU coach’s contract is not “ridiculous,” Landry pointed to Woodward’s recent track record. He cited the more than $70 million buyout that Jimbo Fisher received at Texas A&M and, after Kelly’s $53 million buyout, said he doesn’t want to see such terms in the future.

“We are not going down a failed path,” Landry said. “I want to tell you something. This is a pattern. The guy that’s here now that wrote that contract cost Texas A&M $70-something million. Right now, we’ve got a $53 million liability. We are not doing that again. I believe that we’re going to find a great coach. Maybe we’ll let President Trump pick it. He loves winners.

“I’m not gonna be picking the next coach. But I can promise you, we’re going to pick a coach and we’re going to make sure that that coach is successful and we’re going to make sure that he’s compensated properly and we’re going to put metrics on it because I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and then leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill.”

On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this report.