Scott Woodward reveals key to bringing successful coaches to LSU

Scott Woodward came to LSU in 2019 to be the school’s athletic director. During that time, the Tigers have had plenty of success across athletics, including national championships in multiple sports.

A massive part of that success in athletics goes back to the hires that Woodward makes. The key to bringing in those successful coaches is something that Woodward opened up about while making an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show during the SEC spring meetings.

“Two things that are really important to me, Paul, and they’re obvious,” Scott Woodward said. “One of them is their past record. Now, Kim [Mulkey] has been a winner everywhere she’s been, whether it’s valedictorian of her high school class or winning at a junior level in little league softball with the boys, or even through college as an Olympian. Everything she’s done, she’s won. Brian Kelly, same thing. Won at Grand Valley State. Won at Cincinnati. Won at Notre Dame. It’s hard to screw that up.”

For Scott Woodward, the second key that he focuses on is hiring people who know more than he does.

“Then, the second thing that’s really important to me is I try to hire guys that are a lot smarter than me. Really high IQs. Kim is smart as hell. BK is smart as hell. Jay Johnson, you know. They have that and I kind of think that when you have that formula that you just feel it. That’s just how I’ve always done it and I kind of focus on it in a big way.”

Since getting to LSU, Scott Woodward has made several key hires. The most notable of those is Brian Kelly, the football coach who he hired away from Notre Dame where Kelly is the winningest coach of all time.

However, Brian Kelly isn’t the only key hire that Scott Woodward has hired during his time at LSU. He also brought in Kim Mulkey to coach the women’s basketball team, Jay Johnson to coach the baseball team, and Matt McMahon to coach the men’s basketball team. He also promoted Jay Clark to be the head gymnastics coach. Already, Mulkey, Johnson, and Clark have won national championships at LSU.

Kelly and McMahon may not have won a national championship, but both have also found success. In particular, Kelly has earned some massive SEC wins and produced a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in 2023.

The LSU baseball team is still alive as the NCAA Tournament begins, hoping to repeat as national champions with another College World Series win.