LSU Should Take That “Interim” From AD Verge Ausberry And Add It To President Wade Rousse’s Title | Glenn Guilbeau

November 6, 2025 Glenn Guilbeau LSU Football News 0
LSU's beautiful campus is often split by its university hierarchy and its athletic department hierarchy not being in the same zip code, so to speak. (LSU photo).

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Finally, some clarity at LSU – AKA Louisiana Senseless University – arrived Thursday.

Incoming president Wade “Wrong Way” Rousse stopped talking to reporters and radio stations after making contradictory statements on Wednesday about new LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry’s job title and whether or not he is an interim or the guy.

And the officials at LSU who know how to speak to media entities took over, trying to establish some calm in the latest chapter of “Crazy Days at LSU.”

“Yes, the President (Rousse) has clearly told me that Verge Ausberry is the Athletics Director at LSU,” LSU Vice President of Marketing and Communications/University Spokesman Todd Woodward told Tiger Rag on Thursday. “He (Ausberry) has the President’s full support to lead the athletics department and to identify the next coach to lead our storied football program.”

LSU football coach Brian Kelly was fired on Oct. 26 by then-athletic director Scott Woodward (no relation to Todd Woodward) after falling out of the playoff chase for the fourth time in his four seasons with a $100 million, 10-year contract that seemed to promise playoffs and a national championship or two.

Then Woodward got fired on Oct. 30 because he hired Kelly to that contract that left LSU and/or its major donors owing Kelly a $52.3 million buyout. LSU is working with Kelly to negotiate that down to something like $27 million for reasons that haven’t been made public and may not be in the interest of both parties.

Ausberry then replaced Woodward on Oct. 30 with the interim tag.

Tiger Rag and its Louisiana Radio Network (LRN) partner on Thursday asked various officials for clarity on Rousse’s wayward statements he made Wednesday to media.

LSU deputy athletic director/athletic department spokesman Zach Greenwell echoed Woodward’s statement on Thursday.

“Verge is now LSU’s Director of Athletics,” Greenwell told Tiger Rag and LRN. “He has had the interim tag removed, as noted by President Rousse. We have updated him as such on our website.”

Ausberry’s updated bio appears in the tweet below, in case Ole Miss football coach and likely LSU target Lane Kiffin is interested.

Word is Kiffin is interested, particularly because of Louisiana’s recruiting base, if LSU’s new president, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, and some members of LSU’s Board of Supervisors would shut down the circus, which had a special Halloween performance last Friday.

And remember, Kiffin’s agent is Jimmy Sexton, who would likely favor LSU for his client over the vacant job at Florida. Sexton learned what LSU can be from another client – Nick Saban. And if asked by Kiffin, Saban would likely advise he go to LSU. Kiffin, though, has strong ties to Florida, having coached at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton from 2017-19 before taking the Ole Miss job. And Kiffin, 50, spent summers in Tampa when his father Monte Kiffin was defensive coordinator at Tampa Bay in the NFL from 1996-2008.

Meanwhile, note Greenwell’s comment above – “as noted by President Rousse.”

Thankfully, for clarity’s sake, Rousse did not include any other Rousse comments from recent days that started this mess. And Rousse did not speak publicly on Thursday, thank goodness.

On Tuesday on Rousse’s first day as incoming president, it was widely reported via sources that Rousse had told LSU officials he was going to take the “interim” off Ausberry’s title. This was a good idea by Rousse, who left McNeese State’s presidency to come to LSU. That move makes Ausberry’s first job – hiring a new football coach – smoother and easier as prospective coaching candidates and their agents would know who the athletic director will be for sure.

But on Wednesday in an exclusive interview with Piper Hutchinson of the Louisiana Illuminator (Tiger Rag partner), Rousse said, “I’ll remove the interim, and then we’ll assess the situation. I can’t make a very good decision after being on the job for eight hours.”

What Rousse said there put the interim right back on Ausberry’s title. And Rousse went on to say more that cast doubt on Ausberry’s future. It also casts doubt on Rousse’s ability to make key decisions.

“I don’t have that information yet,” Rousse said when asked by Hutchinson about Ausberry’s contract. “I know there has not been a new contract yet. We’re supposed to announce that in days if we’re going to go down that road.”

If you’re going down that road? You just said you took the interim off!

Rousse also said he did not have a lot of knowledge pertaining to Ausberry’s suspension in 2021 after an investigation by the Husch Blackwell law firm that found major issues with the way Ausberry and other LSU officials handled sexual assault accusations by female LSU students against football players. Ausberry’s actions and non-actions toward the accusations and the players involved were called not credible by the investigation, and he was suspended for 30 days.

Ausberry badly mishandled and covered up the accusations. It was a serious mistake, but he has been in the LSU athletic department for 35 years. And that is the only known significant blemish. And he is easily the most qualified LSU employee to conduct an all-important search for a new football coach, whose fortunes tend to enhance the fortunes of the rest of the athletic department, the school and Baton Rouge.

So, Mr. Rousse, sign him to a new, one- or two-year Athletic Director contract with a nice raise after the coach is hired, then “assess” the situation, perhaps read the Husch Blackwell report and then decide Ausberry’s future.

But then Rousse goofed again. He decided to go on WWL Radio in New Orleans on Wednesday to try to correct his previous mistake, and he made it worse.

“I removed the interim tag,” Rousse said. “He’s the acting athletic director. He has my full authority to go find us a coach for the the best job in America.”

Interim and acting, in this case, mean the same thing, Mr. Rousse. And Ausberry already had “full authority to go find” LSU a football coach from the LSU Board of Supervisors a week ago before Rousse had any authority at LSU.

VERGE AUSBERRY RELEASES STATEMENT

Later Thursday, Ausberry himself released a letter to the “LSU Family,” as he called it.

“I want to share with you directly that President Rousse this afternoon formalized my appointment as LSU’s Director of Athletics,” Ausberry wrote. “We are already quietly assessing candidates for head football coach, and we will accept nothing short of finding a coach who will make the Tigers a national championship contender year in and year out.”

Ausberry, 58, has been at LSU since he left New Iberia to play linebacker for the Tigers from 1986-89. He worked for the Tiger Athletic Foundation before moving to the athletic department in 1991 and steadily rose through the ranks before becoming executive deputy athletic director in 2019.

“Stewardship of LSU’s athletics is an honor and the work of an entire lifetime,” he said. “I will not fail you. We expect to succeed across the board every year. As Tigers, we accept no less.”

So, thank you Mr. Todd Woodward and Zach Greenwell for clearing things up.

Now, one more thing about this interim tag. Can we take the one that was in front of Athletic Director Verge Ausberry’s title and move it to the other end of campus, so everyone can now refer to Wade Rousse as INTERIM LSU President Wade Rousse?

Please?

Then, we can all “assess” his “situation.”

 

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