LSU AD takes shot at Brian Kelly, says Lane Kiffin is 'going back to the Saban model'

BATON ROUGE, LA – LSU football suffered from “no connection” under Brian Kelly , and now the program is pivoting back toward “the Saban model. ” That’s how LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry described it in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports, during which Ausberry spoke at length about the program’s direction under first-year coach Lane Kiffin . While not mentioning Kiffin’s predecessor directly by name, Ausberry took a clear shot at how the program operated under Kelly.

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Then, you have to go do some things with alumni and do things with boosters and do things with fundraising, with NIL. You have to be a part of that. ” “That’s what Lane will do,” Ausberry continued.

“He’ll go out there and have that conversation with the donors and the people who support the program and (say), ‘We need your help,’ and give them his cell number. “He’s not one who’ll say, ‘OK, I don’t want people to contact me. I don’t want people to touch me.