Gov. John Bel Edwards Comments After Longtime LSU Supporter Says President, AD Must Go

Long-time LSU supporter and Baton Rouge businessman Richard Lipsey has been very vocal about his displeasure with the LSU leadership this week, calling for the removal of President F. King Alexander and Athletic Director Joe Alleva.

Lipsey, who was the former chairman of the Louisiana Board of Regents from 2016-2018, cited multiple issues that have been handled incorrectly by LSU leadership in the past, which includes the recent decision to suspend basketball head coach Will Wade.

Lipsey voiced his opinions on a PutLouisianaFirst.com, a website for a foundation that he started.

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"Will Wade is the third basketball coach Joe Alleva has hired in just 10 years. Clearly it would be viewed nationally as insanity if Alleva were to continue as Athletic Director if Will Wade returns to coaching at LSU. In the much more likely event that LSU is now forced to hire a fourth basketball coach in eleven years, it would be viewed as more insane for there not to be a new Athletic Director in place to make the next hire. Either way, only the ultimate in denial will keep Alleva at his job, so there should be no delay in replacing him immediately with a respected interim like Skip Bertman. We cannot stop there. We must immediately remove the leadership of LSU responsible for and directing Alleva’s actions. As important as our Tigers are to us, the damage King Alexander is doing goes well beyond sports."

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"We call on the new leadership at the LSU Board of Supervisors to quickly remove King Alexander and Joe Alleva form their current positions and replace them with nationally recognized interims while appropriate permanent leadership is selected. Many qualified folks are available for these interim roles. Whatever the choices are for interims, both Alexander and Alleva must now be removed."

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During his monthly radio call-in show Wednesday afternoon, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards was asked about Lipsey's comments. Here's what he had to say, according to Tiger Rag:

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“I think it’s very unfortunate all the things that are going on around the basketball program right now,” Edwards said. “They’ve not had an opportunity to sit down with the coach and have him answer questions … It’s really hard under those circumstances to disagree with what the administration has decided to do.”

“I’m not prepared to echo what he is saying with respect to the current leadership at LSU,” Edwards said, “and I’ll just leave it at that.”

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