New Iberia native Verge Ausberry is expected to be formally named the permanent athletics director at LSU. Last week, the former Tigers linebacker and longtime athletics administrator was named the interim AD, but LSU's new leadership wants Ausberry to keep the job going forward. Ausberry says he has already hit the ground running.
“We are just moving the department forward. The first thing I need to do is get the football coach here, and we’ve had great success in contacts and getting people to talk to us. There’s a lot of interest in this position,” Ausberry said.
Ausberry says a timeline has not been established for when they will hire a new coach. He said on Tiger Rag Radio that they will let the process work itself out, meaning it is not necessary to have a coach in place before the December 3-5 early signing period for high school recruits or the January 2nd to 16th transfer portal window.
He says until a new coach is in place, interim Frank Wilson has full control over the program.
“We are not planning on lying down and saying we have a new coach, we can’t win, we gave Frank full authority to go out there and win these games, compete hard, play and see where the chips lie,” Ausberry said.
LSU is looking for a new coach after Brian Kelly was fired last week. One of the reasons why it did not work out for Kelly is that he was not heavily involved in every aspect of the program.
Ausberry says the next head coach at LSU must fit in with what they do, be a leader, and manage NIL, recruiting, and practices.
“Every coach knows X’s and O’s, but it’s how you put that into the program, how you educate your team and your players, get them to buy in,” Ausberry said.
Ausberry says he has spoken to Nick Saban. He says he does so every 2-3 weeks, and he does not see Saban coming out of retirement, but Ausberry is certainly seeking his advice.
Ausberry is leading the coaching search, and another person has been added to the search committee. That is new LSU System President Wade Rousse.
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“I just think as a president you should be involved in the search for what I think is the best college football job in America,” Rousse said.
Governor Jeff Landry has said he would like to see contracts for coaches be incentive-based, but Rousse says the number one priority is hiring the best coach available.
“I would like to think we can do that in our athletics contracts, but we all know that the market is the market and let me repeat what we said, we are very determined to go find the absolute best coach there is, to come to take the best coaching job in America and come lead us to our next championship,” Rousse said.