At multiple points throughout his career, Ed Orgeron has found himself as the interim head coach at major programs. The last time that happened came at LSU in 2016 when he became determined to land the job from former athletic director Joe Alleva. While making an appearance on Pardon My Take, Orgeron recalled his hiring […]
At multiple points throughout his career, Ed Orgeron has found himself as the interim head coach at major programs. The last time that happened came at LSU in 2016 when he became determined to land the job from former athletic director Joe Alleva.
While making an appearance on Pardon My Take, Orgeron recalled his hiring process. That included multiple binders for the future of the program and the need to go to bat for himself in a chaotic hiring process.
“I think we had two or three binders,” Ed Orgeron said. “Multiple binders… That was our plan. Derek’s got it. I’ve probably got it in my mind, but I don’t keep all this stuff.”
Ed Orgeron took over as the interim in 2016 from Les Miles after starting 2-2 on the season. Under Orgeron, the Tigers managed to go 6-2 and win the Citrus Bowl in the final eight games of that season. That success made Orgeron confident that he was positioned well to get the job.
“Let me tell you what happened that day. Okay? So, we go to Texas A&M, and we tear them a new one. Derrius Guice ran the football up and down the field. I get back on the plane and Derek is sitting in front of me, and his head is down like that. We just won a big game. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ I come — it’s, ‘Coach, too bad. They’re gonna hire Jimbo Fisher,'” Orgeron said.
“Well, the next day, I go to meet with the athletic director, me, Derek, and Austin Thomas. We’ve got the binders. We got everything ready. Alleva comes in, who is a great guy. He looks at us, he has his head down. He takes the binders and he pushes them. Doesn’t even open them. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m kicking Derek and I’m kicking Austin. What’s happening? He says, ‘Guys, I hate to tell you, I’m going to meet with Tom Herman tonight. We had a good run.'”
At the time, Tom Herman was the head coach at Houston and one of the biggest upcoming names in coaching. It seemed like it would be his job, but that’s when Ed Orgeron, in his own unique way, pitched himself for the job. That would land, particularly when an attempt to hire Herman went sideways.
“I said, ‘Derek, Austin, you got to leave.’ Eminem. One shot. You got one shot, right? Like the time I hugged Sandra Bullock. I pulled a chair. I said, ‘Joe, and I was hitting him right here [chest]. You know in your heart and your belly, I’m the best man to be the head coach of the LSU Tigers.’ I shook his hands stiff and I said, ‘I look forward to being the head coach of the LSU Tigers,” Orgeron said.”
“And I walked out of there and go okay. I was living in a hotel. We moved out of the hotel. We go home. Anyway, things happen. Tom Herman, Lane Kiffin texts me at 1:30. Tom Herman’s going to Texas. All that stuff. All of a sudden, I think it’s 5:30, 6:00 in the morning, I missed a call from Joe Alleva the AD. What’s going on? He called me, saying, ‘Hey, man. Can you be in Baton Rouge in an hour?’ I said, ‘Hell, yeah, man. I’m coming.'”
In the end, Joe Alleva turned to Ed Orgeron to be the team’s next head coach. That was a bold move at the time, given that in his three seasons at Ole Miss, he struggled and went just 10-25. Still, it was a move that seemed to make perfect sense to many, given Orgeron’s own background.
“Look, I’m going down I-12 playing Born on the Bayou and I’m going about 120 mph, man. Then, all of a sudden, I make the call and go, ‘Hey, they didn’t offer me the job.’ Somebody told me, ‘I don’t think they want to meet with you and tell you that you don’t have the job.’ So, I get to LSU and Joe is standing in there,” Orgeron said.
“Man, I pulled in there. He said, ‘Well, do you want the job or not?’ I grabbed him. I gave him a big bear [hug]. Let me down, you big. So, we went and talked. We went and talked in there. We were talking about the things that were gonna happen. He said, ‘Ed, I’ve got to tell you something… You know when you hit me in my stomach like that?’ He said, ‘You were right. I went to bed at night. I had a knot in my stomach, man.’ I said, ‘Put that Cajun [inaudible] boy.’ What a story, man.”
In the end, the hire worked out. In six seasons there, he went 51-20. That included the 15-0 national championship season in 2019, which today is arguably the best team, or at least the best offense, that college football has seen.
Category: General Sports
