New LSU AD issues bold statement amid ongoing search to replace Brian Kelly

If the pressure cooker at LSU for the new head coach wasn't already boiling, interim athletic director Verge Ausberry did nothing to turn it down. After the firing of Brian Kelly, the intervention of Governor Jeff Landry, the firing of athletic director Scott Woodward, and Landry's comments suggesting his intent to take an active role in the next coach's hiring, it's been quite a week at LSU. Ausberry threw a little fire on the gasoline with his comments.

Interim athletic director Ausberry, as reported by Ross Dellenger, has assembled a search committee of himself and around six to eight members of LSU's Board of Supervisors and high-rolling donors. What exactly is the committee trying to accomplish? Well, Ausberry didn't hold back.

Ausberry's comments

We are going to hire the best football coach there is. We are not going to let this program fail. LSU has to be in the Playoff every year in football.
LSU interim AD Verge Ausberry

Playoffs every year?

To call Ausberry's goals audacious is probably an understatement. Granted, the CFP's expansion to 12 teams (which will almost certainly expand further) makes the goal slightly more reachable, but it's still a tall order. Alabama has reached the CFP eight times in the 11 years of the Playoff. Granted, that means the Tide were 7 for 10 in the years when the CFP included only four teams. LSU has only reached the Playoff once, after the 2019 regular season when Ed Orgeron's team went 15-0 and claimed the CFP title.

Ausberry's rise to power

Ausberry has found himself thrust into the spotlight after the wild events of the last week. He was a linebacker at LSU in the late 1980s and was the leading tackler for two seasons. He immediately moved into working with LSU's athletic department, where he's been since. He was appointed Deputy Athletic Director in 2015 and was titled as Executive Deputy Athletic Director until this week.

After LSU's 49-25 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday, Brian Kelly's time as LSU coach came to a hasty end. As Ross Dellenger has reported extensively, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who has become a central figure in the firing, assembled a group of LSU power brokers to bring about Kelly's firing. Not included in the meeting was LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, who has become somewhat infamous as the AD who led the buyout of Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M and now Kelly, was ultimately let go. But before that, Landry indicated publicly that Woodward would not choose the next LSU head coach. Ausberry's appointment as interim athletic director has at least temporarily restored a united front at LSU as the coaching search continues.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry became a central figure in the turnover of the LSU athletic department this week. | Michael Tortorich / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images