Landry says LSU athletics director won’t pick next football coach after $95m fiasco
Louisiana governor Jeff Landry has said he will not allow LSU athletics director Scott Woodward to choose the university’s next football coach, saying he would “let President Trump pick it before I let him do it” after what he called a series of reckless contracts that have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.The governor’s remarks came days after LSU fired head coach Brian Kelly, who was lured from Notre Dame less than four years ago on a 10-year, $95m deal that has now imploded.Kelly’s dismissal followed a 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M that dropped the Tigers to 5-3 and capped a collapse from early-season title hopes to frustration.“I can tell you right now, Scott Woodward is not selecting our next coach,” Landry told reporters at the state capitol in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.“Maybe we’ll let President Trump pick it.
He loves winners.”Governor Jeff Landry says in no uncertain terms that Scott Woodward will NOT select the next LSU Football coach.pic.twitter.com/rdqh8tuSWpLandry accused Woodward of a “pattern” of failure, pointing to a similar deal the athletic director made while running Texas A&M’s program, where coach Jimbo Fisher was fired in 2023 with a $77m buyout – then the largest in college sports history.
“The guy that’s here now wrote that contract that cost Texas A&M more than $70m,” Landry said.“Right now, we have a $53m liability.We are not doing that again.”Kelly, 64, compiled a 34-14 record in Baton Rouge and won nearly 71% of his games, but his teams faltered when it mattered most.LSU’s promising 4-0 start this season disintegrated into three losses in four games, and fans chanted “Fire Kelly” during Saturday’s defeat.
By Sunday night, he was gone.“When Coach Kelly arrived at LSU four years ago, we had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships,” Woodward said in announcing the firing.“Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize.”Landry said he met with university leaders at the governor’s mansion that same night to discuss the legal and financial fallout.Because LSU is part of the state’s higher-education system, part of Kelly’s salary was publicly funded, though most came from donors and sponsorships.
The governor said his concern was “the fiscal effect of firing a coach under a terrible contract” and the perception that the public would be left footing the bill.“I was not happy that we were raising ticket prices while having a losing season and paying a coach $100m without the results,” he said.Woodward, an LSU graduate who has led the athletics department since 2019, defended the move in a short statement, saying the school would “continue to negotiate [Kelly’s] separation and work toward a path that is better for both parties”.Kelly’s buyout is believed to be around $54m.Landry, however, argued that accountability must be written into any future deal.
“We’re going to pick a coach and we’re going to make sure that coach is successful, compensated properly, and held to metrics,” he said,“I’m tired of rewarding failure in this country and leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill,”Kelly’s exit continues a tumultous season for major college programs,Penn State fired James Franklin earlier this month, followed by Florida’s dismissal of Billy Napier a week later,Across the country, at least half a dozen universities have already parted ways with their head coaches before November.
LSU named associate head coach Frank Wilson as interim head coach for the remainder of the season while a selection committee, appointed by the LSU Board of Supervisors, begins its search for a permanent replacement,Kelly’s four-year record stands in stark contrast to his predecessors,Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron all won national championships within their first four seasons in Baton Rouge,Kelly’s tenure produced three minor bowl appearances but no College Football Playoff berths, even as he oversaw quarterback Jayden Daniels’s rise to a Heisman Trophy,The governor insisted he has nothing personal against Kelly, describing him as “a good man” but one who “just wasn’t the right fit anymore”.
What most frustrates him, he said, is the broader trend of athletic departments handing out vast, guaranteed contracts to coaches regardless of performance.“I think the spirit of the team needed a change,” he said.“But we’re going to make sure the next contract makes sense.We’re done writing blank checks.”
Boris Johnson tells Tories to stop ‘bashing green agenda’ or risk losing next election
Boris Johnson has warned the Conservatives they will not win the next election by “bashing the green agenda”.The former prime minister said he had not seen the Conservatives “soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is”.Johnson’s intervention comes after Theresa May and John Major criticised the Tories for speaking out against net zero, making him the third former prime minister to step in on this issue.Kemi Badenoch has committed the party to repealing the Climate Change Act and abandoning the commitment to reach net zero by 2050, arguing that the target threatens to bankrupt Britain.The repeal of the act would remove the need to meet “carbon budgets” – ceilings, set for five-year periods, on the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted – and disband the Climate Change Committee – a watchdog that advises on how policies affect the UK’s carbon footprint
Rachel Reeves admits breaking rules by renting out her house without a licence
Rachel Reeves has admitted to “inadvertently” breaking housing rules by renting out her south London home without the specific £945 licence required by the local council.The chancellor admitted the error to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and to parliamentary ethics officers, after it was first disclosed by the Daily Mail.Reeves put her family home in Southwark up for rent after moving into No 11 Downing Street last year following Labour’s election victory.A spokesperson said the chancellor had used a letting agency to manage the process, and that while she should have been aware of the obligation to buy the licence, she had not been advised that she needed one.“She had not been made aware of the licensing requirement, but as soon as it was brought to her attention she took immediate action and has applied for the licence,” Reeves’s spokesperson said
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Racism, intent and the diversity in TV adverts | Letters
The “now you see it, now you don’t”, “was it or wasn’t it” racism of recent days is nothing new, but it is profoundly dispiriting and corrosive (Nigel Farage defends MP’s complaint about TV adverts as ‘ugly’ but not ‘deliberately’ racist, 27 October). It reduces racism to a prejudice that leaks, unintentionally, out of clumsy words.Similar excuses were made after Frank Hester said Diane Abbott “makes you want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”, and after Robert Jenrick complained about not seeing “another white face” during his tour of part of Birmingham. Both said that their remarks had nothing to do with skin colour.The sad fact is that racism is not the preserve of self-declared Nazis advocating white supremacy with intent
MPs vote down Farage’s proposal for UK to leave ECHR – as it happened
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