You can tell LSU’s house has been missing a few bricks when even the interim AD starts talking about “alignment.” The Tigers’ athletic department has been rebuilding its leadership chain from scratch. On November 4, the school made it official. Wade Rousse, a Louisiana native who had been steering McNeese State, was named the new system president, while James Dalton from Alabama took charge as the Baton Rouge chancellor. It’s the first time since 2012 the school split the two roles and that move says everything about why Brian Kelly’s era ended in smoke.

The real bomb, however, dropped when 104.5 ESPN released an exclusive interview on X between interim AD Verge Ausberry and Matt Moscona, revealing just how messy things had gotten behind the scenes. “Well, it’s important to any athletic department, especially LSU, that alignment means a lot and you have leadership. You don’t have leadership. You have a lot of boys there and it really really hurts you,” the AD admitted. He wasn’t sugarcoating anything. LSU’s coaching search was paralyzed by confusion over who even called the shots. That kind of dysfunction kills confidence across the board.

Verge Ausberry’s words cut deeper when you realize the fallout. “Talking to people out there, agents and and candidates and other people in the business,” he said. “They were always asking, ‘Who’s going to be the president? Who we report to? Who’s the AD? I’m the interim AD.’ So, you had to make them feel comfortable in what we were doing.” Imagine trying to pitch LSU as a stable powerhouse when your organizational chart looks like a fumble.

The AD admitted flat-out, “Everybody has to be in alignment. Don’t have that alignment, then you’re really gonna have problems no matter who what coach you pick.” And that’s where the new era begins with Wade Rousse and James Dalton holding the same map, hopefully facing the same direction. The board calls it unity and alignment. LSU fans call it overdue. Either way, Baton Rouge just reset its compass. And it starts right with the AD position. 

Wade Rousse’s first power play

It didn’t take long for the new LSU president to make his first big move. After settling in, Wade Rousse reportedly decided to remove the “interim” tag and hand Verge Ausberry the full-time AD role, per The Daily Advertiser. A formal announcement is expected soon, but the message is already loud and clear. The Tigers are betting on continuity over chaos.

Verge Ausberry, who’s been at LSU for 24 years, has worn nearly every hat in the department. As interim AD, he was handed the keys to the most scrutinized coaching search in college football and told to go find Brian Kelly’s replacement with “full authority,” according to Board of Supervisors chairman John Carmouche. That’s a bold vote of confidence for a man who’s seen LSU at both its championship peaks and off-field valleys. But confidence comes with scrutiny in Baton Rouge, and the new AD knows it.

“I want our fanbase to know one thing: LSU is not broken,” he told reporters, defending the department’s backbone after Brian Kelly’s firing. “LSU’s athletic department is not broken. I think we have the best athletic department in the country.” Whether this new “alignment” turns into actual results or another offseason headline is anyone’s guess. But at least for now, Baton Rouge has a plan that sounds like a play call instead of an argument.