With apologies to Simon and Garfunkel. . .

And here’s to you Mr. Robinson,

Ed Orgeron loves you more than you will know,

Wo wo wo,

God bless you please Mr. Robinson,

Tiger Stadium holds place for those who play,

Hey, hey, hey

LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron announced Monday he has hired Obi Wan Kenobi as a senior consultant.

Obi Wan, a.k.a. as John Robinson, former USC and Los Angeles Rams coach and a 2009 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, turns 84 years old on July 23.

The fact that Robinson has been one of Orgeron’s mentors and that Robinson’s wife Beverly is a New Orleans native played into Orgeron making this move.

“I want to welcome Coach Robinson and his wife Miss Beverly to the LSU Family,” Orgeron said in a released statement. “Coach has been a great friend and mentor to me and he will be a very valuable resource for us in growing our championship culture at LSU.”

The salary, though, not released, has to be miniscule. But Robinson doesn’t need the money.

The man who won a national title and went 8-1 in bowls in 12 seasons at USC and who went to the playoffs of six of nine years (including two NFC championship game appearances) with the Rams wants back in football for one reason.

He loves the game.

Robinson told Bruce Feldman of The Athletic that "I've missed being around a team, I’m really excited about this.”

Robinson’s official duties are assisting Orgeron as a consultant to daily planning of practice, personnel and game planning.

That's simultaneously specific and vague, but not intentionally. But it sounds considerably more official than “the old guy Coach O likes to ask questions and bounce ideas off.”

Since former LSU defensive line coach Pete Jenkins retired at end of the 2017 season, Orgeron hasn’t had a mentor handy on a daily basis.

Sure, Orgeron can still call Jenkins whenever he wants. But Orgeron is more of a “walk down the hall to visit a coach and get on the drawing board in his office” type dude.

The hiring of Robinson is also more proof that Orgeron is always looking for an edge to better LSU’s program. He certainly hasn’t sat still in that regard, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

It’s where he has staff members who played collegiately spread from the 1970s (offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger), to 1980s (running backs coach Tommie Robinson), to the 1990s (offensive line coach James Cragg and receivers coach Mickey Joseph) to the 2000s (passing game coordinator Joe Brady).

Think about it – Brady is more than 50 years younger than Robinson, yet Orgeron is confident that age doesn’t matter, old or young, when it comes to cultivating ideas.

And while Robinson can’t recruit because he isn’t a full-time staff member, he still has a ton of California contacts in a state where Orgeron is making huge inroads.

There’s also one final valid reason for hiring Robinson.

It’s so Ensminger, LSU’s starting quarterback in a heartbreaking, controversial 1979 17-12 loss in Tiger Stadium to the Robinson-coached No. 2 ranked Trojans (a defeat of which late Tigers’ coach Charles McClendon said, “It was our game and I’ll go to my grave believing that), can finally ask Robinson this question:

“John, do you really think the LSU penalty that kept your game-winning TD drive alive, that facemask call against our defensive tackle Benjy Thibodaux on a third-and-nine incompletion at the USC 39 when two of your offensive linemen jumped offsides which wasn’t called. . .do you think that penalty was the greatest gift of your coaching career?”

Paying Robinson $50,000 or whatever just to answer that question is worth it.