The LSU Tigers aren’t taking any chances this time. After missing the playoffs for three straight seasons, head coach Brian Kelly has been shown the door. The decision came at a steep cost, with his $53 million buyout hitting the program hard. In the aftermath, Verge Ausberry replaced Scott Woodward as athletic director. First on an interim basis, then permanently. And Verge Ausberry isn’t lowering the bar for LSU’s next head coach, not even a little.

 After being promoted to athletic director by new university president Wade Rousse, Ausberry has made it clear he wants a proven winner, someone capable of taking the Tigers back to the College Football Playoff. Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger shared the news on X: “Something to consider as Ausberry leads LSU’s search for a coach: During a Baton Rouge radio hit today with @MattMoscona, Ausberry said LSU will consider a coach who participates in the playoff, even if that means waiting until as late as January to make a formal hire.”

“We’re going to hire the best football coach there is,” Ausberry said. “That’s our job. We are not going to let this program fail. LSU has to be in the playoffs every year in football. There are 12 teams that make it. It’s going to expand here. We have to be one of those teams at LSU. No substitute.” But waiting until January might increase the competition even more, as the market is already stacked with Florida Gators, Arkansas, Penn State, UCLA, Auburn, and others looking out for replacements.

With the playoff committee releasing its first rankings of the season, Verge Ausberry and LSU might already have their top 25 in hand, with teams like Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia leading the charts. Now, the real question is why any HC going into the playoffs would take on LSU job? Especially knowing the kind of spotlight and pressure that comes with it.

Then comes in the biggest threat, Brian Kelly’s buyout, which is already hitting the program hard. Now, sure, LSU’s Board of Supervisors chairman Scott Ballard made it clear that Kelly’s buyout fund will be funded by the self-generated athletics fund and private donors, but getting a coach with a playoff resume will be a massive hit to their pockets. So, it will be interesting to see how Verge Ausberry gets a playoff-winning coach onto his team.

With Ausberry’s big moves LSU staff is reacting to their former AD’s exit.

Kim Mulkey reacts to the former AD’s firing

LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey was heartbroken after AD Scott Woodward’s firing. During the Tigers’ exhibition win against Langston, she got to know the news and was nothing but deeply affected by the news. As the associate HC, Bob Starkey had to fill in for her in the press conference. What makes it more evident is that it was Woodward who got Sarkey at LSU, and now he is not there anymore.

It was one of the most high-profile coaching hires when he convinced Mulkey to leave Baylor and join the program in 2021. He later signed her to a 10-year, $32 million extension, making her the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball. And under her leadership, LSU won its first national championship in 2023.

But what’s done is done, and Mulkey accepts the reality, praising Woodward’s legacy: “In 40 years of collegiate coaching, I’ve worked for two phenomenal athletic directors. One was Skip Bertman. The other one was Scott Woodward.”  Things might have worked in Milkey’s case, but in Brian Kelly’s case, it turned into a complete disaster, which ended both of their tenures with LSU.