LINK

Raw cliffs:

"Woodward hire was a smart move (mentions James Williams). When you are planning to make a change, you don't do it until you have your eye on the person you want to sit in the seat. BOS used excellent judgement, focused on person they wanted. It was up to them to negotiate the deal."

"LSU has been mired in mediocrity under current admin. Found a man with vision who would set us apart. We should be in the top of the SEC in everything (mentions academics and athletics)."

"Quite frankly Scott is a really personable person...His true friends are in Baton Rouge. We leveraged his passion for hunting and fishing...What could be more attractive than to come back to that top spot (LSU)? As long as they made it an attractive package, it would have been hard for him to turn it down."

"I did not sit in on the board meeting or get on the phone with the Chairman. 100% of the credit goes to James Williams. I don't want to comment on what they did or didn't promise him (Woodward). When I talked to James he assured me it would be a very attractive package...they would give him lots of leeway. Titles don't mean a lot to Scott, simply being the AD is what he wanted to be. Today is a celebration of Scott Woodward. He doesn't demand the title of being the king. Scott knows his responsiblity and take it very seriously...Scott is a team player."

"When Scott or Mark went in to the capital they went in with a plan. There was no pleading. They stated their case for LSU. Mark was always successful for his relationship and mutual respect for legislators...It's very important our University has that respect from the legislature. Scott will help bring that back...Scott will be able to give others at the University a lot of advice on programs and how to approach the legislature. This is something that's been lacking the last decade."

"The timing last August when it was announced we would go to a more holisitic method of accepting students, it was explained this wouldn't hurt LSU...If you have several thousand applicants for your school, we don't have the people available to read and interview those several thousand to applicants to make those "holisitic decisions. It was done wrong and not without the approval of the BOS and BOR. I just felt it would lead us back into mediocrity. Quite frankly all of the stats from the LSU marketing campaign to say "look we have the best class" "we have the best retention". When your facutly was told to retain the students, quite obviously you are going to have good retention, because you're not flunking anyone."

"All I want is the best for LSU. Too long people have come to me from around this state, and they all have the same opinion. I've worked at LSU every single year since I've graduated...I don't want to lose that (tier 1 status). We haven't focused on programs we need to in research and economic development. Far too many things have gone astray and it's time to get them on track. Woodward is one of the first steps in getting that done and putting our great alumni back together."

"I was a bit dismayed when Coach Wade was suspended...If i would have been Will Wade I would have done what he did when it was made public they wanted to talk to him. I'm glad to see cooler heads prevailed. Once Will was able to slow this process down and deliver the proper documents to the University, they were able to reinstate him. I can make no judgement on right or wrong there...I can tell you Will Wade is a fine young man, a heckuva basketball coach...I saw how deeply the players loved Will Wade and I think as basketball coach he has a great future. I personally hope that future is at LSU. I don't know where this investigation leads. I know he is very personable, young, and maybe yes he made a mistake. But there's a major problem in NCAA basketball with the shoe companies...While I'm not in a position to do anything about it, I hope we can keep Will Wade. He will be a winner wherever he is."