BATON ROUGE — Wade Rousse was named the new President of LSU by the university Board of Supervisors during a meeting Tuesday. 

Rousse, who is the current president of McNeese State University, was chosen to fill the position vacated by William F. Tate IV over the summer. Matt Lee has served as interim president since Tate left LSU for Rutgers University.

"I am so excited to serve in this role," Rousse said, emphasizing that he has a plan for the university with a focus on structure.

Rousse said that LSU Athletics will report directly to the president, meaning he will likely play a substantial role in the selection of a new football coach and athletic director in the aftermath of Brian Kelly and Scott Woodward leaving the university.

In addition to Rousse, the Board of Supervisors hired another of the three presidential finalists.

James T. Dalton was named the Executive Vice President and Provost of LSU, as well as acting as a "Chancellor of sorts" for the flagship Baton Rouge campus. Before being chosen on Tuesday, Dalton was the University of Alabama’s current Executive Vice President.

"When you think about what these jobs look like, I don't know how one person can do all of that," Rousse said. “When I started this search process, I was very adamant, and I thought we had sort of a divided board about how we would structure this university, and I kept talking structure.”

Rousse and Dalton discussed how their collaboration came together after meeting late last week.

“We drove over here and met and just started to think if this could be a possibility,” Rousse said.

Details about the new chancellor position are still being worked out and are expected to be finalized in the next 30 days. 

Splitting the leadership positions of the university into two roles will see the President focus on systemwide oversight and strategic initiatives, while the Chancellor will concentrate on academic excellence, research advancement and LSU’s goal of becoming a top 50 research university, Chair of the LSU Board of Supervisors Scott Ballard said.

“The decision to split these two roles had been under consideration since I became board chair,” Ballard said. “During the search for a new President, it became clear to the Board that these candidates’ unique strengths and shared vision presented an opportunity to strengthen LSU’s leadership structure.”

The other finalist for the university presidency was former University of Arizona President Robert Robbins.

Watch the board meeting where Rousse was chosen here: