Baton Rougean Woodward now Emmert’s AD at Washington

When LSU travels to Seattle next Sept. 5 for its season-opening football game at the University of Washington, no one will have more friends on hand and emotions churning than Scott Woodward: a 1981 graduate of Catholic High, a 1985 political science graduate of LSU and former athletic liaison for then-LSU chancellor Mark Emmert.

But Woodward’s purple has a different shade now, since he’s the athletic director at Washington, a place where you can drive your boat right up to the stadium. The tailgate parties are not quite as serious, but there is a spectacular view of Mount Rainier.

“It’s such a gorgeous setting,” Woodward says during a brief visit in September. “And it’s something I think LSU fans are really going to enjoy when they visit.”

Woodward, 45, never imagined himself in his current job when in 2000, the former political wunderkind pitched Emmert on the idea that his government relations firm should represent LSU.

“He pulled the old bait and switch on me,” Woodward recalls with a smile. “He says ‘You’re hired, but I want you full time.’ And I gladly did it, but as I tell people I sold the Mercedes-Benz and bought a Honda Accord and went to work for LSU. I loved it.”

Emmert didn’t simply hire Woodward. He also made him LSU’s athletic liaison, recognizing that sports are the window of the university, which in the case of LSU, was having tremendous success as it entered the 21st century.

When Emmert took the job of president of U-Dub in 2005, he took Woodward with him, making him vice president for external affairs. Woodward continued his work in athletics and this past Sept. 17, Emmert made him the 16th A.D. in school history.

Woodward misses the food, points out that Louisiana actually gets more rain than Seattle, and is glad to come back home to visit his parents and son Michael, who is a sophomore at LSU.

But while LSU has won two national football championships in the past five years, that sport has struggled at Washington, where many of its other sports teams are perennially ranked among the country’s best.

Unusual challenges are nothing new for Woodward, who was just 22 when he managed a congressional race for Tommy Hudson. He’s had his own PR and lobbying firm and all the while has been a huge sports fan.

Washington fields 23 sports and its athletic budget is more than $60 million (almost $20 million less than LSU’s), but it has to compete with other sports entities in town.

“It’s not as intense as far as the everyday fan base (at LSU),” Woodward said. “You have a lot going on in Seattle. You have the mountains, you have the water, you have the Mariners and you have the Seahawks and up until this year you had the Sonics.

“So there’s a lot happening. But the Huskies are the center of the world for a lot of people. It’s just not as high-pitched as Baton Rouge.”

Washington, by the way, returns the home game in 2012.