LSU football is a special program within the college football world. At their best, the Tigers are capable of fielding otherworldly teams—before the program fired Brian Kelly over the weekend, his three predecessors all captured national championships in Baton Rouge. They're also prone to becoming a real calamity, given their status as the state's true flagship school and program, and for that reason, LSU football can often become intertwined with state politics.
That much was certain on Wednesday, when governor Jeff Landry spent time during the press conference to declare that LSU's board of supervisors—and not athletic director Scott Woodward—would conduct the search to replace Kelly. Woodword was responsible for Kelly's contract—which could cost Louisiana upwards of $53 million—as well as the infamous Jimbo Fisher contract at Texas A&M, which remains the biggest buyout in the sport's history.
