When Adults Aren't Around: LSU's Ed Orgeron Couldn't Run Program Without Supervision
Departing LSU coach Ed Orgeron wasn't happy doing what he could do best.
That wasn't being a head coach at a big-time school. Most guys who make that work over the long haul don't require constant adult supervision.
Orgeron does.
He's just a syrupy-mumbling fella who can sell heaters to people in south Louisiana. That works in recruiting, until the players figure out his act, then, it seems, they just quit playing their best for him.
You even got that feeling when he stumbled his way through Fayetteville a couple of times. He would even try to tell the media what they could and couldn't do until somebody told him to go get a cheeseburger and shut up.
The veteran coaches he worked for just kinda chuckle and shake their head when you bring up Orgeron's employment for them.
It appears to work that way with top-level assistant coaches, too.
Orgeron's first hire at USC was defensive line coach Pete Jenkins, a college and NFL veteran who seemed to provide "the adult in the room.''
Ol' Pete was also his first hire at LSU.
But even that fell apart. After Jenkins told Orgeron on the field before the Tigers played Troy in 2017 that they were going to get beat (and they did), the relationship changed a little.
Jenkins is still fiercely loyal to Orgeron, which just shows he was "the adult in the room,'' which has been described by sources close them as being a completely accurate phrasing.
After the magical 2019 season when the Tigers swept through everybody for an undefeated national championship, Orgeron was flying high.
Then it started ... for whatever reasons. Jenkins retired (not surprising after a career going to back to single-platoon football), and then defensive coordinator Dave Aranda left for the head coaching job at Baylor.
Offensive assistant Joe Brady left for an offensive coordinator position with Matt Ruhle and the Carolina Panthers.
During an ill-fated three-year span, Orgeron was finally kicked to the curb because it was clear to anybody paying attention he wasn't a head coach. He was a recruiting coordinator who was playing the lofty role.
He rounded up some good players, but also was, basically, a parody of himself.
When he left Oxford, it came after a heated encounter with a medical person where Orgeron barged over to the doctor's house and acted like a 12-year-old. There are other stories like that. Lots of them.
At one point in his last season he was talking with a media person and Orgeron suddenly started furiously running his hands and arms around his head talking about snakes all over him and things.
Still, LSU promoted him to the head coaching spot when things fell apart with Les Miles.
That has led to more embarrassment for an athletics department that's having to fight multiple issues across multiple fronts, including the head football coach's alleged inappropriate actions and comments to females, reportedly including the wife of a school official.
It had to end.
And, of course, Orgeron appeared completely comfortable with leaving because he won't be going away broke.
Now he can get "double cheeseburgers at Sonic" and keep on rolling. He'll maybe spend the next few years actually being used by LSU to promote the football team and school.
Tiger officials just hope somebody understands what he's mumbling about. The rest of the college football world has probably figured it out by now. ... and also might want to make sure, from now on, that there is "an adult in the room.''
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