Orgeron comes full circle at LSU
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The situation is somewhat poetic.
Ed Orgeron “played” at LSU in the sense that Tigers’ new interim head coach was a member of the football team for a period of time. He never participated in an actual game and ran through only a handful of practices. His time on campus was short, but the backstory makes the opportunity at hand even more important to the 55-year old coaching journeyman.
“Baton Rouge was a far place [from home],” Orgeron, a native of Larose, La., recalled. “I left after two weeks and I’ve regretted it ever since. The next day, my daddy put me on the side of the road on construction and people were passing by and making comments to me. It was kind of the worst day of my life. I passed through Tiger Stadium and I wondered what it would have been like and I said to myself, 'One day I’ll be back.' Second time around is gonna be a better time for me."
Orgeron is, in fact, back.
Technically, he’s been back for a while, serving as the Tigers’ defensive line coach since last season. The recent firing of Les Miles put him in the captain’s chair, however, and now things are different. Orgeron won’t dispute that.
It’s not as though he’s new to the interim head-coaching role. This is a stage on which the veteran has acted. Orgeron served as USC’s interim head coach for three games following the firing of Lane Kiffin in 2013. He went 6-2, knocked off No. 5 Stanford and garnered support from a large portion of USC fans as a viable candidate to fill the job on a permanent basis.
In the end, Orgeron got an interview and nothing more. He departed USC before the team’s bowl game, but suddenly the 3-year-old ordeal seems hugely important once again.
"It gives me a lot of experience,” Orgeron said of his first term as an interim coach. “I was able to use the practice schedules that we used during my interim time at USC, do a lot of things that we had done there that were very successful. I know we were able to hit the ground running.”
But what of recruiting?
Orgeron the interim managed to keep USC’s 2014 class intact. The Trojans didn’t lose a single player during Orgeron’s reign. Despite the counterproductive interim tag, he landed a commitment from Rivals100 guard Viane Talamaivao and helped the program finish the recruiting cycle with a top-10 class.
That’s all to say that interim coaches don’t come much more proven than the man occupying the role at LSU in 2016. Current USC head coach Clay Helton, who served under Orgeron during his interim stint in Los Angeles, thinks he has a pretty good handle on what allowed Orgeron to be a success in round one.
“Coach O is a dynamic leader and he’s also a great recruiter," Helton said. “He’s known as that. He was one of the best D-line coaches I’ve ever been around, as well as one of the top recruiters. What he does too, though, is he does a tremendous job of inspiring his men.”
Orgeron’s second act as a stopgap will be longer than his first. He’s likely to coach at least eight games at LSU and be charged with the task of not only holding together a recruiting class for a handful of months, but also adding to it.
Then again, Orgeron’s recruiting prowess has never been in question. Selling a program is sort of his thing.
“The good thing about recruiting is I've been the recruiting coordinator here,” Orgeron said. “It helps a lot because I'm in touch with all these guys. When they come on campus I usually handle most of them along with coach Miles and I'm in the meeting, I know the parents, I know all the people that work here on campus. That hasn't changed. I think the recruiting is gonna be fine.”
If interim stint two goes as well as stint one for Orgeron, he’ll further endear himself to LSU fans and possibly get another interview. Either way, the Louisiana native won’t soon be without a job of some sort. To him, his latest head-coaching crack is about the players.
It’s also about cleaning up a touch of playing-days regret that still lingers.
“Tiger Stadium Saturday night is very emotional,” Orgeron said. “We have some young men from Louisiana that were raised just like I am. It's not about me. It's about them.”
