Controversial ESPN star hits out at Louisiana governor over Charlie Kirk statue plans

After Louisiana governor Jeff Landry revealed that the LSU athletic director would not be choosing the next football coach, former Tigers player and controversial ESPN voice Ryan Clark slammed the politician.

Over the weekend, LSU fired head football coach Brian Kelly after his underwhelming tenure in Baton Rouge. 

During a Wednesday press conference, Landry blasted athletic director Scott Woodward and mocked him - with the Republican official saying he'd sooner let Donald Trump pick the next coach.

Clark, who was a legend with the Tigers and won a Super Bowl in his NFL career, returned fire and called Landry's comments 'ridiculous'.

At the same time, he also slammed a proposal by Landry for LSU to put up a statue of assassinated MAGA activist Charlie Kirk.

Discussing the words about the hiring decision, Clark said on ESPN's 'First Take' that Landry's comment was 'the second most ridiculous thing he said this week.'

'The first was standing on campus and saying he wanted to put a statue of somebody that doesn't represent the people of Louisiana, doesn't represent the players and the students at LSU, doesn't represent the executives that work there. That was the first dumb thing he said this week.' 

While it's not clear exactly what the former Pittsburgh Steelers star was referring to when he talked about what the murdered activist 'represented', it's possible that Clark was referring to the fact that Kirk is not a Louisiana native, did not attend school in the state and never seemed to have a residence there.

But it was more of a drive-by comment than anything else, with Clark then turning back to Landry's critique of Woodward.

While the governor's criticisms mostly focused on how Woodward's football coaching hires led to the two largest contract buyouts in college football history (Jimbo Fisher and Kelly), Clark pointed out how the AD also oversaw multiple hires who won national titles.

Specifically, he pointed to Jay Johnson (LSU's baseball coach, who won titles in 2023 and 2025) and Kim Mulkey (the women's basketball coach who won a 2023 title). 

'To me, this is another situation of politicians poking their nose into things that they don't know about,' Clark added. 'I honestly believe it was so he could get in front of a microphone and say, "look at this connection I have with the president and he likes to pick winners" so he could placate to someone he idolizes. 

'You don't know nothing about football. There's enough going on in the state of Louisiana that needs to be fixed for its constituents. I don't need you tweeting on Saturday night about what's going on at Tiger Stadium. There is too many issues happening right there under your nose that ain't got nothing to do with sports.'

'Scott Woodward is a good man. Scott Woodward is a man that cares about LSU. In the greatest times, back in the day, he understood what it was like to be a part of a winner and he's brought more winners back to the school. 

'He didn't miss because Brian Kelly wasn't capable. He missed because Brian Kelly was no longer willing. Brian Kelly was no longer tapped in. Brian Kelly didn't care about the people of Louisiana, cared about him. And he didn't care if the players knew that he cared about them. 

'That's where it went wrong. Not in picking the man that was the winningest all-time coach in Notre Dame history. So for me, it's emotional, clearly. And it pisses me off. But Scott Woodward deserves to pick the next head coach and the governor should stay out of it.'

Clark, a Louisiana native, has run across some controversies throughout the year - not only on his own podcast, but also on the ESPN airwaves.

He's been dissmissive of colleague Peter Schrager, had an awkward feud with former ESPN co-worker Robert Griffin III, and had to apologize for his comments about late LSU star Kyren Lacy which were made before all the facts of his tragic case were released.

Landry said that the school's Board of Supervisors would be put in charge of the next football coaching hire.