BATON ROUGE — The head of the LSU Board of Supervisors' athletics committee said Friday that while Gov. Jeff Landry was right to raise concerns about how the university reached deals with its coaches, the school has never asked taxpayers to pay salaries and never will.

John Carmouche also said at a news conference Friday morning that Landry had no role in LSU parting ways with Athletic Director Scott Woodward. Landry had said in a news conference Wednesday that Woodward wouldn't be involved in the hiring of a new football coach after Brian Kelly was fired following a 49-25 loss to Texas A&M last Saturday.

"The governor was not involved" in negotiations that led to Woodward's departure Thursday night. "The governor is worried about the state of Louisiana. His concern had to do with the state contract."

WATCH THE NEWS CONFERENCE HERE:

Landry this week conflated Woodward's involvement in Kelly's $53 million buyout from LSU with Jimbo Fisher's $77 million buyout at Texas A&M. While Woodward did negotiate the Kelly deal, his successors with the Aggies signed a pact with Fisher for guaranteed money.

Carmouche also said there was no need for the governor to worry that taxpayers would be forced to cover the costs of LSU's athletics contracts.

"Let me make it clear: The state has never, and the taxpayers have never paid for a coach and they never will," he said.

Despite the apparent chaos — LSU has neither a president nor an athletic director nor a head football coach — Interim Athletic Director Verge Ausberry said "LSU is not broken. The LSU athletic department is not broken." 

Invoking former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes, Ausberry said LSU sports teams are expected to win championships in front of adoring fans.

"Between the third and fourth quarter last week, i walked on the field in that football game. I wanted to see what was going on," Ausberry said. "You watch the sideline, you watch the stands. You watch everything around you.

"I went down there and I feel I saw something. I saw empty seats, empty suites. I saw our stadium, Tiger Stadium, halfway empty. It’s not a good thing," the former LSU athlete said.

"Woody Hayes always said the worst word in the dictionary was 'apathy,'" Ausberry said. "This program cannot have apathy, in no way or means. We have to win. We have to be successful."

Board of Supervisors President Scott Ballard said Ausberry, who has been LSU's executive deputy athletic director, would lead the search for a new football coach.

"He spent all of his adult life working to make this athletic department and this state better," Ballard said. "We will continue to be an elite destination for student-athletes, coaches and staff."

The search for a new athletic director will come later, and Ausberry said whether he would be a candidate "is not a concern right now."

LSU is expected to announce a new president Tuesday following on-campus interviews with three finalists that began Wednesday and end Monday. Ballard said the searches would not slow down to wait on the naming of a new president. 

Once a new football coach is in place, "LSU has to be in the playoffs every year," Ausberry said. Kelly failed to make the playoffs in each of his first three seasons and the Texas A&M loss was the Tigers' third this year, virtually assuring they wouldn't qualify this year, either.

"We have championship coaches here," Ausberry said. LSU has recently won titles in baseball, women's basketball and women's gymnastics.

"That's what we expect here. We're LSU," Ausberry said.

The interim AD said the Tigers' self-inflicted turmoil hadn't chased candidates away.

"We're LSU. My phone is still ringing," he said. "It's one of the best jobs in the country. It is the best job in the country at this time. We're going to find the right person and I don't see any problems finding the right person to be the head coach at LSU."