Questions and Answers: Scott Woodward, new LSU AD, talks about his departure from Texas A & M, Will Wade, and his "nasty gumbo"

Do not raise the issue too hard because Scott Woodward's wife, Nanette, is within earshot and can hear the question.

The couple was in the process of completing the construction of a new house just outside College Station, Texas, when Woodward decided to leave Texas A & M for the position of sports director of his alma mater, LSU, this week.

"She's probably going to hit me again in the shins," Woodward joked Thursday, April 18, just four hours after the official announcement of his hiring to replace former LSU Sports Director, Joe Alleva, announced by the university in its new functions. in relations with donors.

Joking aside, the new Texas home shows just how sudden and unexpected the move was for Woodward. He had good things to Texas A & M and was ready to settle there.

But LSU has always been his dream job.

Now he will be back in Baton Rouge, where he went to Catholic high school, graduated from LSU and worked for the university from 2000 to 2004.

Woodward spoke on the phone with NOLA.com | On Thursday, the Times-Picayune will discuss his new job and plans for LSU. He talked about Texas A & M, why LSU was so attractive, what's next for the department and how it will manage Will Wade's situation.

Q: Have a look at these last days.

Woodward: It's always difficult when you make a change. On the positive side of things – I'm a guy half-full of glass – we're excited. I could not be happier coming back to Baton Rouge and my alma mater. I have to pinch myself.

Returning home was the story of your coming to the LSU, what role did he play in your decision?

I do not know how your college experience was, but LSU has transformed me. Being a multigenerational Rougean Baton, LSU has cast a long positive and positive shadow over you, and that has changed my life. It has taught me to live and to examine life. I made friends and relationships that I still have and I'm always grateful.

While knowing how much in a country there is probably no more important institution in America for its state than LSU in Louisiana. NCAA President Mark Emmert taught me that when I worked for him, and that you – you mean me – you're from here, you do not realize before you escape and see how vital it is.

It's humiliating. It is very humbling for me to come to work for the second time in a place that is so important to the state and that, personally, is so important to you from a transformation base.

You are leaving a good situation at Texas A & M. What did you think of A & M and what would it take to leave?

Texas A & M is a wonderful place. It's absolutely unique with its incredible traditions and incredible people. It was very difficult. I have a particularly close relationship with the coaches I've worked with and worked with – especially the coach (Jimbo) Fisher – and it's very difficult.

As I told you with my wife, she asks him to make sacrifices and make a gesture. It is a very lucky situation to go to a place that you are so close to your heart and where you always have family and close friends. Personally, I am very happy.

What are the first things you are trying to accomplish when you start LSU?

You evaluate what is happening and you make sure that you respect the traditions and what is happening. You know, it's more important to get to know friends that I have not seen recently and get to know a new generation of LSU fans and people from Louisiana that I have not known in recent years because I went.

You say it's largely an evaluation, so what's your assessment of LSU Athletics right now?

Yes, it's difficult, and I'll go into evaluation, but it's an amazing athletic department with a lot of history, a lot of momentum and potential. You just want to make sure you keep doing it, but it's hyper-competitive and we're going to have high expectations and keep the same goals of winning championships with integrity and doing things right.

It's hard. It's very difficult to do, especially in this conference. When you are at the peak of the moment, as the cliché says, it is the most treacherous at the top. You know, obviously, LSU is there and understands it, and we are competitive in everything we do. It is our duty to become competitive again and to continue to achieve the goal of greatness.

You have the habit of being able to call on high level coaches. What is your methodology for working with coaches under your command?

I will not reveal all my trade secrets, but you will get to know me and you will see that it is a passion. My leadership style is very collaborative. I always use the metaphor that I do not consider myself an autocratic leader, but rather as an executive producer of a movie. I bring talent together, make sure the budget is respected, that the product is sold on time, that the product is marketed properly and that you are doing the right thing.

Ultimately, the most important part of this activity is your talent and your coaches and, most importantly, your student-athletes and their way of representing your institution, because ultimately it all depends on how you represent your institution. . We are only an important part of how we represent this institution.

Are there any examples of things you think you have done well as a sports director and would like to be able to do differently?

I'll make you do your work on it, and then you can ask me (let out a laugh as he says it). I do not know. I hate talking about me. I am simply proud of all the work done and hope to have gone the right way and hoped to become better.

But you bump your toe and make mistakes, and people will make mistakes. We are human beings. That's what we are, but you do it with openness and humility and you advance when you make mistakes. That's how I do it, and that's how I'll always do it.

You enter a tricky situation with Will Wade and the basketball program linked to an FBI investigation. How do you come in and handle that?

This is an excellent question and the answer is that I do not know it yet. I have not been informed. You probably know a lot more than me because you covered it. I worked here at Texas A & M, so it's something I need to be informed about and I need to learn a lot and move on.

But always know, and you always do it with everything you do, that Louisiana State University, with its reputation and way of doing things, is the most important thing in what we do. Honoring that and protecting it is always a priority, no matter what we do.

In addition to returning home to your alma mater and your hometown, what LSU sales arguments have been made to bring you here?

They have nothing to sell me. I know it pretty well. I know what it's all about and personally I know how it has transformed my life. It's just a special place and a unique opportunity.

Apart from personal affairs, there is no such important institution that is more important to his State than Louisiana State University. It's like that, and I've always believed it. And now that I've had the opportunity to leave and look outside, institutions are important to their state, but when you have one that is so important and comes out as an institution in a state – unlike a place like Alabama, where you have Auburn and the University of Alabama, or Georgia, where you have Georgia and Georgia Tech – it 's all about. a privileged relationship.

We're running out of time, so what are the main things to do in Louisiana when you return?

I go home enough because my parents are still there. I have not forgotten them and I can always make a medium okra and I can still munched lobsters. You know, your skills are even sharper when you leave. You suck them so much.

Now, I look forward to immersing myself in the daily life of my passion and my people and waiting for these challenges and opportunities.