There may be clarity on Verge Ausberry’s status at LSU after president’s comments confused some

By Reveille Staff

November 6, 2025

Newly appointed LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry watches as LSU hosts Houston Christian in an NCAA women’s basketball game in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.

Verge Ausberry was named LSU’s interim athletic director on Thursday. The interim tag was removed Tuesday, after just four days, by newly-named LSU President Wade Rousse hours after he was given the position.

That may seem straightforward, but while at a meeting regarding the University of New Orleans’ pending transition to the LSU system on Wednesday, Rousse put that status in doubt.

In response to a question from Louisiana Illuminator reporter Piper Hutchinson, Rousse seemed to draw a distinction between taking the interim tag off of Ausberry’s role with LSU and naming him the permanent AD.

I asked incoming #LSU President Wade Rousse on decision to name Verge Ausberry the permanent AD. “I’ll remove the interim [title] and then we’ll assess the situation. I can’t make a very good decision after being on that on the job for eight hours…”

— Piper Hutchinson (@ByPiperHutch) November 5, 2025

“I don’t know what permanent means versus removing the interim,” Rousse reportedly added.

Many on social media were confused by Rousse’s comments and whether they indicated Ausberry’s permanent role was in flux. It came as many have emphasized that for LSU to land a high-level football coach to replace the fired Brian Kelly, it needs to have stable athletic leadership.

On Thursday, a new report from LouisianaSports.net offered some clarity. According to “a source within the president’s office,” LSU has no plans to conduct a search for an AD after Ausberry completes the search for a new football coach.

“Verge Ausberry is THE athletic director at LSU. Period,” the source reportedly said. “There is no intent or desire to play word games with this issue.”

The source also added that the sentiment Rousse intended to convey was he will demand excellence from administrators and evaluate them based on their performance. The source said Rousse “did not communicate it well.”

Ausberry became the interim after former AD Scott Woodward parted ways with LSU the day after Gov. Jeff Landry publicly ripped his track record.

Ausberry was given clearance last week by the LSU Board of Supervisors to lead the football head coaching search. The search committee will include Ausberry, Rousse, Board of Supervisors athletic committee chairman John Carmouche, former LSU football player and donor Ben Bordelon and Our Lady of the Lakes President and CEO EJ Kuiper.

In 2020, Ausberry was implicated in the university’s Title IX scandal in athletics when he didn’t report a football player’s confession to domestic violence to the Title IX office or to law enforcement. As a result, he was later suspended and stepped down from the school’s presidential search committee at the time.