By TODD HORNE, Executive Editor
The LSU Board of Supervisors on Thursday approved, without dissent, a sweeping package of athletics employment agreements and term sheets that together formalize a major financial and structural reset at the top of LSU’s athletic department.
As expected, the board approved items involving Vice President and Athletics Director Verge Ausberry, Senior Deputy AD and Executive Director for External Relations Heath Schroyer, Football General Manager Billy Glasscock, men’s basketball coach Will Wade, three Wade assistant coaches, women’s basketball associate head coach Bob Starkey and women’s basketball assistant coach Fitzroy Anthony. The committee also approved LSU’s proposed 2026 increases in men’s and women’s basketball ticket prices, parking and Tradition Fund charges.
That last piece matters because it makes the business story clearer. LSU is not just spending more. LSU is also moving to generate more revenue from the basketball product at the same time.
The contract approvals themselves were not surprising once they appeared on the Board agenda for Thursday’s meeting. The significance lies in the scale of the commitment and in what the University is choosing to fund all at once.
Across the full terms being approved, the guaranteed salary and supplemental compensation attached to the athletics personnel items total approximately $46.6 million. That is the correct number for what happened Thursday. It reflects the compensation terms the committee approved for the people now being locked into LSU’s athletics leadership, football roster-management structure, men’s basketball rebuild and women’s basketball continuity.
That total does not include postseason bonuses, relocation incentives, vehicle allowances, temporary housing, fringe benefits or other contingent compensation. It also does not include the separate basketball buyout context surrounding Will Wade’s return and Matt McMahon’s dismissal, because those costs were not technically part of Thursday’s approvals. They are real in the broader financial picture, but they are not the number that best defines what the board approved today.
And what the board approved today is substantial.
This was not a routine housekeeping session. LSU effectively formalized a new professional structure around the top of its athletic department — stabilizing the athletic director’s office, funding an external-relations post with real weight, paying seven figures for a football general manager, rebuilding men’s basketball with a premium head coach and staff, and preserving continuity around Kim Mulkey’s women’s basketball program.
Start with Ausberry. His agreement as vice president and athletics director places the top of LSU Athletics on major-commitment footing. In the modern college sports economy, that job is no longer just about hiring coaches, meeting donors and speaking at podiums. The athletic director now sits at the intersection of revenue generation, personnel strategy, contract risk, donor confidence, facilities pressure, NIL alignment, roster compensation and public accountability. LSU’s investment in Ausberry reflects that reality.
Below that, Schroyer’s term sheet underscores that LSU is also putting money into the business-facing side of athletics administration. His title is not minor, and neither is its function. External relations now sits close to the center of any serious athletic department because the money has to come from somewhere — premium seating, sponsor relationships, donor cultivation, political navigation and broader revenue development.
Then there is football, where Glasscock’s $1 million annual compensation as general manager is one of the clearest signs that LSU understands how fully the sport has changed. College football is no longer managed only from the sideline and recruiting lounge. It now requires front-office thinking: player personnel, scholarship distribution, transfer portal strategy, roster valuation, analytics and NIL coordination. LSU is paying for that layer because the sport now demands it.
But the largest and most visible pivot is men’s basketball.
Wade’s deal starts at $4 million annually and rises in later years. His assistant structure approved Thursday — Rick Stansbury, Johnny Jones and Damon Stoudamire — shows LSU is not merely paying for a head coach. It is paying for a full operating structure around him. That is a different level of commitment than simply changing coaches. LSU is trying to rebuild men’s basketball as a meaningful competitive and commercial asset inside the department.
That point is reinforced by the board’s simultaneous approval of 2026 increases in men’s basketball ticket prices, parking and Tradition Fund charges. LSU is plainly trying to reset the men’s basketball business model from both ends. It is investing more in coaching leadership and staff, and it is preparing to ask the market to pay more for access if the product improves.
The women’s basketball side is part of the same story. Starkey and Anthony were not throw-in items. Their approvals show LSU also intends to protect continuity and staff quality around a women’s basketball program that already carries national relevance, major visibility and real brand value. LSU cannot afford to treat Kim Mulkey’s operation as secondary while rebuilding the men’s side. Thursday’s approvals suggest it understands that.
The ticket and parking moves on the women’s side matter as well. By approving 2026 increases in women’s basketball ticket prices, parking and Tradition Fund charges, LSU signaled that it believes demand for women’s basketball has grown strong enough to support a more assertive revenue posture there, too. In business terms, LSU is acknowledging that women’s basketball has become important enough to be monetized more aggressively, not merely celebrated.
Taken together, Thursday’s action showed LSU moving toward a more openly professional athletics model. Not professional in the legal sense, but in the operational sense — executive leadership at the top, specialized roster management in football, premium staffing in basketball, and revenue strategy tied directly to spending decisions.
The University’s athletics agreements repeatedly state that these obligations are to be paid from LSU Athletics self-generated funds and affiliated foundation funds, not from state general fund or tuition dollars. That distinction matters. But it should not obscure the point. This is still public money being committed. It still has to be justified. It still has to be sustained. And now, in part through basketball pricing increases, LSU is showing how it intends to help fund it.
That is the real story from the meeting.
The names were expected. The approvals were unanimous. The dollar figures were large. But the deeper takeaway is structural. LSU is choosing to invest heavily at the top of the department while also raising the price of its basketball product, a sign that it no longer sees athletics as a loose collection of teams and coaches. It is managing the operation more like a business enterprise, and Thursday’s approvals were one of the clearest public signals of that shift yet.
Approved Athletics Personnel and Approximate Guaranteed Compensation Over Terms
| Name | Role | Approx. guaranteed compensation over approved term |
| Verge Ausberry | Vice President / Athletics Director | $8.14 million |
| Heath Schroyer | Senior Deputy AD / External Relations | $1.30 million |
| Billy Glasscock | Football General Manager | $3.17 million |
| Will Wade | Men’s Basketball Head Coach | $29.00 million |
| Johnny Jones | Assistant Head Men’s Basketball Coach | $0.86 million |
| Rick Stansbury | Associate Head Men’s Basketball Coach | $1.63 million |
| Damon Stoudamire | Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach | $0.45 million |
| Bob Starkey | Associate Head Women’s Basketball Coach | $1.275 million |
| Fitzroy Anthony | Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach | $0.78 million |
| TOTAL | $46.6 million |
Editor’s note: The $46.6 million figure reflects approximate guaranteed salary and supplemental compensation across the approved terms for the athletics personnel items. It excludes contingent bonuses, fringe benefits and non-approved contextual costs.
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