LSU is just begging to get kicked out of the SEC | Opinion
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It’s almost as if LSU is just begging to be kicked out of the SEC.
Standing up, bowing its back and staring into the eyes of the league’s presidents and chancellors and daring them to make a move. Yeah, we’re bat crazy, so what?
We’re your bat crazy.
Not for long if you keep this up.
If you can’t comprehend the utter lunacy that is LSU since the end of the 2025 football season, you’re not alone. There are 15 colleagues in the SEC who have no idea what in blue blazes is going on in Baton Rouge, too.
It’s bad enough to fire football coach Brian Kelly with $53 million on the table. Bad enough to then try to torpedo a fellow conference member’s College Football Playoff run by backing up a truckload of cash and telling Lane Kiffin to hop in, leave Ole Miss high and dry and save LSU.
Bad enough to obliterate the spirit of the private NIL rule (and College Sports Commission clearinghouse), and spend nearly double of the revenue share budget (about $17 million) on private NIL deals ― and have a roster worth nearly $50 million for Kiffin’s first season.
Bad enough to rehire a basketball coach who, the last time he was around, left the program in shambles and on NCAA probation (yes, kids, this used to be a thing). And in the shock of all shocks, Will Wade is at it again, desperately trying to add ineligible transfers to a roster that currently sits at four players.
Bad enough that the governor of the state of Louisiana is essentially running the joint.
Bad enough to hire an athletic director who, in 2021 as deputy athletic director at LSU, served an unpaid, 30-day suspension for his involvement in the mishandling of a number of sexual misconduct reports.
And now finally, bad enough that when the SEC presidents and chancellors this week took a stand against signing former players who had signed professional contracts, LSU’s response was, essentially, we’ll see what happens.
LSU voted along with the other presidents and chancellors in declaring the league would not accept NFL, NBA or WNBA players on league rosters. That vote was 16-0.
LSU, however, abstained from a league vote — which was 15-0 — to confirm stiff penalties against conference members who do so.
All of this, mind you, in the past nine months under the swift stewardship of The Gov, Jeff Landry. Because no university president or chancellor in their right mind would make such bold moves in direct opposition of the league’s wishes.
The fabric of the SEC, the league’s DNA since the early years of the modern era under commissioner Roy Kramer, has been unwavering, unanimous movement. No matter the issue, no matter its impact, the 10 (and then 12, and then 16) schools stood together and voted unanimously. On everything.
They play together, they earned together. Mississippi State is just as important as Alabama, and earns just as much money. To the dime.
Everyone has a voice, but after debate and discussion, they’re all in it together. Until now — until LSU decided it wasn’t happy with the idea of penalties for those who add professional players to their rosters.
Sure, we’ll hop on board that it can’t be done, but want no part of the penalty phase of the operation.
The obvious question: What is LSU’s end game?
Is adding three players to an already stacked roster capable of winning the national title so important to The Gov, that he’s willing to risk membership in the strongest conference in college sports? Because that’s where this thing is headed.
If the SEC says no, and LSU says yes and signs players who previously played in the NFL, NBA or WNBA, do you really think LSU is going to stop there?
The Gov will simply say we didn’t agree to the penalty phase of the operation, so we’re not agreeing to our coach being suspended for 50% of the season. He'll be on the field, thank you.
And we’re not going to pay 50% of our football (or basketball) operating budget as a penalty.
At that point, the other 15 SEC presidents and chancellors say goodbye to LSU and hello to North Carolina or Duke. Or both.
Because LSU can’t get away with a power move like that, one that would set precedent for other moves by LSU and potentially, others in the league. One school isn’t bigger than the conference.
One school that, when separated from the SEC, isn’t as attractive as it thinks it could be. How monetarily attractive is LSU as an independent, playing an independent schedule?
Or worse, playing in the Big 12 (which would do backflips to add LSU) against Utah and the Kansas schools and the Arizona schools and wake me when it’s over.
Take a deep breath, Gov. You’re in over your head.
Walk away from the argument before it’s too late.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LSU is just begging to get kicked out of the SEC | Opinion
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