Only in the heavily Republican state of Louisiana would the Governor suggest for a conservative racist to be honored with a statue. “I’m calling on LSU to honor the legacy of Charlie Kirk by putting up a statue of him on campus. There is no better warrior for free speech than Charlie Kirk, and we must continue his legacy on every campus in America.” This is what Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry suggested that LSU enact following the killing of conservative speaker Charlie Kirk on September 10th, 2025.
Jeff Landry errantly suggested this idea on October 27th, 2025, when he posted this on his X account. Landry also suggested that Louisiana State University should bestow Donald Trump the honor of picking the next head football coach due to the recent firing of Brian Kelly. Landrys’ role as governor and Trumps’ role as president has no correlation to college football. This is a blatant abuse of power and ironic considering the current political state of the country.
This situation has gone too far, and should not be making its way into the world of college sports. “Politics and sports should be left separate”, says Southern University student Ty’Lance Collins. Collins believes that the behavior Governor Jeff Landry is exhibiting is similar to the behavior of a tyrant, almost like a dictator. Dr. Lee Johnson, Southern University Professor gave his take and stated “To have the statue be suggested to be placed on the campus before addressing the far more apparent issues circulating around the state is truly telling.” He also went on to say, “To go out and demand for these two unacceptable and senseless actions to happen just goes to show how skewed the priorities are from the far-right republican.”
LSU has a 19% African American population, which goes hand and hand with the governor trying to get a statue built of Charlie Kirk, who openly admitted that he did not care for people of color. LSU athletes have spoken out against the matter, most notably LSU women’s star basketball player Flau’jae Johnson. Johnson opened up on X and stated that she questions the senseless decision. In response to someone claiming to align with Kirks views she stated, “For the sake of clarity, if you align yourself with or endorse his (Kirk) racist rhetoric and discriminatory views toward people of color, I respectfully ask that you utilize the unfollow option at the top right of my profile.”
When it pertains to the LSU football head coaching search, there are two main things that should be looked for when it comes to finding an appropriate candidate; winning and culture. Notice that neither of those things has anything to do with political figureheads who are openly discriminatory. The actions and behavior of the Governor is quite questionable and leaves one to make the assumption of his stance morally. Those who have experience in finding new head coaches, such Scott Woodard, should be in control of the search. Woodward is the newly appointed athletic director at LSU and has led over twenty head coaching searches in his career. This along with his overall competence is what makes him the perfect candidate to lead the head coaching search for the tigers.
