Orgeron gets his dream job

Everything worked out perfectly for the three coaches mainly involved in the LSU search.

Jimbo Fisher, a Bobby Bowden disciple, will remain at his dream job – Florida State.

Tom Herman, who spent most of his coaching career in the Lone Star state, will get his dream job – Texas.

Ed Orgeron, who grew up on the bayous of South Louisiana, also received his dream job – LSU.

Director of Athletics Joe Alleva formally introduced Orgeron as the Tigers next head football coach at a press conference Saturday afternoon. The announcement came just hours after an early morning meeting among Orgeron, Alleva and three LSU Board of Supervisor members.

Early Saturday, Orgeron drove to Baton Rouge from his Mandeville home. Alleva didn’t tell Orgeron the purpose of the meeting.

“I told my wife that I don’t think they are bringing me in to say I don’t have the job,” Orgeron said.

Orgeron was 100 percent correct. The interim tag was removed and Orgeron is now the permanent LSU head coach.

Orgeron is well known for his passion, but one saw his emotional side at the Saturday press conference. He broke down when talking about his mother and father.

“I will work hard,” Orgeron said. “My dad said ‘I don’t care what you do. Just be the best at it.’ I just wanted to be an assistant at LSU. I knew I could earn my way up to be head coach. There is no question this is my dream job. It is bigger than life.”

Orgeron knows all about LSU football. He was born in Larose (La.) 55 years ago. He attended Galliano (La.) South Lafourche High School. Orgeron received a football scholarship to LSU, but transferred after a short period of time to Northwestern State in Natchitoches (La.).

Orgeron spent time on the football staffs of nine universities before finally getting hired at LSU by former coach Les Miles prior to the 2015 season.

“I grew up in the state of Louisiana,” Orgeron said. “We get it. I understand what you gave us. I am proud to be a part of Louisiana. I know what LSU means to Louisiana and what winning championships means. I thank coach Miles for hiring me and Frank Wilson for helping me get on the staff.

“I know Louisiana is happy today – from North Louisiana to South Louisiana to Lake Charles to Boutte. Everybody is happy, including me.”

Orgeron took advantage of being the interim coach. LSU won five of seven games under Orgeron – the two defeats coming at home against Alabama and Florida, the two Southeastern Conference divisional winners.

Many people believed that Orgeron’s chances of becoming the permanent coach ended with the Tigers’ heartbreaking 16-10 loss to the Gators. Derrius Guice ran the wrong way on a fourth-and-goal from Florida’s 1 and was stopped short of the end zone.

“I didn’t think the chance (of becoming head coach) passed me by after the Florida game,” Orgeron said. “We had things to get fixed and we had to do it fast. I always had a glimmer of hope. I always thought I had a chance.

“I want to thank our players for their tremendous job. They pulled through after weeks of adversity. I want to thank the coaching staff for coming together and staying together. Joe (Alleva) was there with us. He gave us full reins. His support and guidance was there when things were good and not good.”

Miles had a spectacular record during his 11-plus seasons as Tigers coach. Under Miles, LSU played in three SEC title games – winning two. Under Miles, the Tigers played in two national championship games – winning one. But, LSU fell behind Alabama in the past three seasons.

“Our goal is to be a championship program really fast,” Orgeron said. “We can compete very fast for a SEC title. There are certain pieces of the puzzle that have to come together. If they do, things will come together very fast.

“I know I will be judged by (Alabama) game. I welcome it and I can’t wait until we beat them. We have to recruit better to do that. We need players who are very similar to their benchmarks. We need coaches who can coach at their level. We need the mindset that we are going out there and beat those guys.”

Obviously, Orgeron’s first task is completing his coaching staff. Orgeron is in no hurry to accomplish that job. It appears that the hiring of most of his assistants will not come until after signing day in February. Orgeron wants to retain Dave Aranda as defensive coordinator.

“We will assemble the best staff in America,” Orgeron said. “Dave Aranda is the best coordinator in America. I spoke with him (Saturday) morning. I totally expect him to be with us. People will come after him, but I am confident he will be here.

“I will evaluate the staff after the bowl. I will give everybody on our staff a legitimate chance of staying. I will recruit the best offensive coordinator in football and bring him to LSU. I have a couple of guys in mind (Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian). LSU deserves the best and I plan on doing that.”

Orgeron apparently has changed his mind in the past two months as to his preferred style of offense. When named interim coach, Orgeron said that he is a believer in a pro-style offense.

“I do believe that nowadays you have to run a spread offense,” Orgeron said. “You need a dual-threat quarterback. I still want to be a physical football team. We have great backs here at LSU. We have one of the best backs in the country (Guice) coming back next year.”

Orgeron talked very little about personnel although he hinted at going the junior college route at certain positions – one being linebacker.

“We need some guys to fill immediate roles,” Orgeron said. “We lose (linebackers) Kendell Beckwith and Duke Riley, so there are some guys we have to get. We will recruit the state of Louisiana first – one star, two star, three star, four star, five star. I don’t care.

“If I think a guy can perform like we want on the field, in the classroom and have high character, we want them first. We’ll go outside our borders (Louisiana) for first-round draft picks, primarily in the South. We will continue to recruit the I-10 corridor.”

Orgeron said that he has already spoken with the juniors who are considering leaving for the NFL. Orgeron acknowledged “some of the juniors are recruitable and some of the juniors are not recruitable.”

Orgeron is ready to get to work as LSU’s permanent head coach.

“We called all the recruits (Saturday),” Orgeron said. “We will have a team meeting Monday and then start recruiting. Hopefully, we’ll get to go to a great bowl and finish the season strong.”

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