LSU football is a special program within the college football world. At their best, the Tigers are capable of fielding otherworldly teams—before the program fired Brian Kelly over the weekend, his three predecessors all captured national championships in Baton Rouge. They're also prone to becoming a real calamity, given their status as the state's true flagship school and program, and for that reason, LSU football can often become intertwined with state politics.

That much was certain on Wednesday, when governor Jeff Landry spent time during the press conference to declare that LSU's board of supervisors—and not athletic director Scott Woodward—would conduct the search to replace Kelly. Woodword was responsible for Kelly's contract—which could cost Louisiana upwards of $53 million—as well as the infamous Jimbo Fisher contract at Texas A&M, which remains the biggest buyout in the sport's history.

"I can tell you right now, Scott Woodward is not selecting the next coach. Hell, I'll let Donald Trump select it before I let him," Landry said, in a press conference moment that immediately went viral.

LSU currently has a vacancy at president, which has left a bit of a power vacuum at the school while it prepares to search for a coach who will almost certainly become the state's highest-paid employee. Landry boisterously filled that vacuum with his Wednesday announcement. By declaring that the board of supervisors will make the call, he effectively tabbed board chair Scott Ballard with leading the search—which was news to Ballard when he was asked about the search by WBRZ news later on Wednesday.

"No, I didn't know that," Ballard said, when asked for comment.

To his credit, Ballard pivoted quickly. When asked about next steps, he said that the board would "hire the best coach for Louisiana State University, I promise you."

That coach clearly wasn't Kelly, who got off to a promising start but failed to put together a complete roster during his time in Baton Rouge, and saw diminishing returns in the face of high expectations over the last few years. Combined with his awkward cultural fit at LSU, and the program determined that it had to make a move, even with $53 million or so hanging around its neck.

Lane Kiffin is the hot name for the SEC's biggest openings, though there's no guarantee he leaves Ole Miss for a job like LSU or Florida. He leads off the list of 12 candidates for the Tigers job put together by Sports Illustrated's Bryan Fischer in the wake of Kelly's dismissal.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as LSU Chair Had No Idea Louisiana's Governor Tasked Board With Hiring Next Football Coach.

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