Power, Politics, and the Fall of Scott Woodward

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The battle that brought down LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward was never just about football. It was political from the start. Woodward wasn’t simply the athletic face of Louisiana’s flagship university — he was a fixture in Baton Rouge’s old political guard. A registered Democrat and protégé of James Carville, Woodward was handpicked for the LSU job in 2019 by then-Governor John Bel Edwards. His arrival symbolized the continuation of a familiar order — one where the upper ranks of LSU operated as an extension of the state’s entrenched political establishment rather than a reflection of its people.

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For a time, that arrangement worked. The state’s legacy donors, Carville’s inner circle, and the Baton Rouge media elite all celebrated Woodward’s return as a “homecoming.” But the truth is, Woodward’s career has always been defined less by athletics than by politics and public relations. He’s a PR expert first — someone who understands message control, media access, and narrative management better than almost anyone in Louisiana public life.

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Under Woodward’s leadership, LSU athletics reflected the cultural priorities of national media, not the values of most Louisianans. He presided over high-profile, divisive gestures of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and implemented one of the most heavy-handed COVID policies in the South: requiring proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test to enter Tiger Stadium. Fans who “preverified” their vaccine status were given wristbands granting them access to special “fast pass” entry lanes — a symbol, to many, of the bureaucratic elitism that had seeped into LSU’s culture. Meanwhile, Woodward’s calling card — his high-dollar coaching contracts — became cautionary tales in excess. He left Texas A&M with the $75 million Jimbo Fisher buyout still hanging over the program, then recreated the same problem at LSU with Brian Kelly’s $95 million deal. Now, LSU is staring down the barrel of another multi-decade financial liability for a failed hire.

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