Take Two: Should LSU consider moving on from Ed Orgeron?

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

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LSU coach Ed Orgeron opened his Monday press conference analyzing offensive and defensive breakdowns in the Tigers’ shocking 24-21 loss to Troy on Saturday in Baton Rouge.

There were a lot of them.

To his credit, Orgeron did not make excuses for LSU’s poor play recently – the loss to Troy, a nine-point win over Syracuse and a blowout loss at Mississippi State. But Orgeron is still responsible for how the Tigers perform and it has not been impressive. Far from it.

Orgeron was 10-25 overall and 3-21 in the SEC during three seasons at Ole Miss, making his hire at LSU rather scrutinized. Now, the question has to be asked whether he’s the right person for the LSU job or if the Tigers should seriously think about cutting and running after this season.

Their 3-2 record may be disappointing, but the season is far from over. There are plenty of opportunities to turn this thing around. SEC play kicks into high gear this weekend at Florida and then LSU plays host to Auburn, so the schedule definitely gets tougher to close out the regular season. The always-important Alabama matchup comes Nov. 4 and at this point it looks like it could be a bloodbath.

Did LSU make a mistake by hiring Orgeron? Should the Tigers’ brass admit it and move on? Or does Orgeron deserve much more time to implement his system, with a first-year offensive coordinator and a second-year defensive coordinator, before putting him squarely on the hot seat?

“I just don't see LSU moving on Orgeron after one season. They would owe him $12 million, plus contracts for other coordinators and assistants. Don't forget, LSU is still paying Les Miles' buyout minus whatever income he's receiving for his television work. Both Matt Canada and Dave Aranda are dealing with years of bad recruiting of offensive and defensive linemen. Things would really have to get bad for a move to be made. Could there be a situation where LSU is 5-7, decommitments for this year’s class and 2019 Louisiana kids looking to leave the state that would make them bite the bullet? I guess it's possible but there's no way folks in this state will allow athletics director Joe Alleva to hire another football coach and he still has over a million dollars on his contract.

“When Orgeron got the job last November it was believed that he did not have a buyout. The public didn’t find out until the Baton Rouge newspaper via FOIA request in March found out about the buyout dollars. Folks are incensed that this took place as Orgeron had no market value for such a contract.”

“There should be concern. There should be a real hard look at this hire after one season if things continue to go this way. It’s one of those things where no athletic director wants to admit they made a mistake so they stubbornly stick with a guy.

“This reminds me of the Charlie Strong hire at Texas - a guy who’s in way over his head and never really should have been hired to start with. Do you stick it out for three years knowing this is going to be a failure or do you just end it quickly? The LSU fans and boosters who wanted Jimbo Fisher a couple years ago, who wanted Tom Herman last year, they’re going to demand something be done.”