LSU football coaching search tracker: Does Auburn firing Hugh Freeze impact LSU's search?

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BATON ROUGE — When LSU makes moves, there are few college programs across the country that make a bigger splash.

LSU moved on from former head football coach Brian Kelly on Sunday, Oct. 26 over the team’s second off week, just eight games into the 2025 college football season. The Tigers have a winning record at 5-3 but fans and boosters were unhappy with the direction of the football program under Kelly, who had not led LSU to the College Football Playoff in his three-plus seasons in charge.

In the wake of Kelly’s firing, LSU made more changes in letting offensive coordinator Joe Sloan go and recently athletics director Scott Woodward was ousted amid public ire from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT LSU INTERIM AD VERGE AUSBERRY

Just four years removed from LSU hiring Kelly to replace Ed Orgeron, LSU is back in the market for a new football coach. With many high profile coaches tied up with CFP-contending teams, LSU’s search could roll beyond the end of the regular season.

Follow us here for reports on the top search candidates. The latest announcements are at the top of the list.

Does Auburn firing Hugh Freeze impact LSU football’s head coaching search?

There are a few names on LSU’s candidates list that will also appear on Auburn’s list as well. Auburn fired Hugh Freeze on Sunday, Nov. 2 following the Tigers’ 10-3 home loss to Kentucky and officially joining the already crowded market for programs looking for their next head football coach.

According to this ESPN report, coaches like Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, Georgia Tech‘s Brent Key, Missouri’s Eliah Drinkwitz and Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea are all names to watch in Auburn’s process. Those names have also been mentioned in LSU’s list of candidates.

There is a scenario LSU may have to out-leverage Auburn for any of those names.

Scott Woodward out as LSU athletics director; Verge Ausberry to lead LSU football coaching search

After days of facing public scrutiny from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, Scott Woodward is out at LSU’s athletic director. The two parties announced their split Thursday, Oct. 30.

LSU has tabbed LSU executive deputy AD Verge Ausberry as interim AD and he’ll lead the committee that will search for former head coach Brian Kelly’s replacement.

“Verge is going to move forward and knows what he needs to do,” LSU Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve Ballard told reporters in a press conference following Woodward’s exit. “But depending on how that works out and when the new president starts, the new president will absolutely have input and hopefully (will) hit the ground running.” 

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry publicly bashes LSU AD Scott Woodward

Speaking at a press conference at the State Capitol about SNAP benefits for Louisiana residents in need of state-funded food assistance Wednesday Oct. 29, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry told reporters that LSU athletics director Scott Woodward would not be picking the next LSU football coach.

“I can tell you right now, Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach,” Landy said. “Hell, I’ll let (U.S. President) Donald Trump select (the new coach) before I let him select him.”

Conversation coming off the public embarrassment Landry served up for Woodward had many begging the question of who will the new LSU football coach answer to? The governor getting involved in the conjecture and also holding meetings at the governor’s mansion, he said, was to discuss the legalities of firing Kelly.

LSU’s AD is facing immense pressure due to lofty contracts for coaches he has hired. And LSU doesn’t have a full-time university president. A lot of turnover simultaneously for LSU and it’ll be interesting to watch how it might could complicate things.

Nick Saban on Lane Kiffin and ties to LSU football coaching search

In an interview with On3’s Chris Low on Wednesday, Oct. 19, former Alabama and LSU football coach Nick Saban discussed Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin being mentioned in both LSU and Florida coaching searches.

“Lane is the first name up for Florida and the first name up for LSU, but I think you can have a long debate on whether either one of those jobs is actually better than the job he has now, because he has some guys over there at Ole Miss that give him pretty much whatever he wants from a roster standpoint.

“He may not necessarily have the same thing at Florida or LSU.”

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Does Auburn firing Hugh Freeze impact LSU football’s coaching search?

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