National championship coach targets comeback at LSU after Brian Kelly firing

On an episode of the ESPN show Unsportsmanlike this week, a special guest phoned in, none other than former national champion and LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron.

Orgeron hasn't returned to lead a college football program since exiting LSU four years ago, of course, just before Brian Kelly was brought in. But now that another man has suffered the same fate as Orgeron and the LSU job is back open, would the legendary Coach O consider a reunion? That's what the Unsportsmanlike host asked him:

"Would you want to be the next LSU head coach?" he posed to Orgeron, who hardly needed a beat before jumping in to answer.

"Oh, I'd love to," said Orgeron. "Are you kidding me? I'm one phone call away. Hey, I just gotta get in my truck, I could be there today. Ha ha ha ha!"

“Do you want to be the next LSU head coach?”

Coach O: “I’d love to. Are you kidding me?”

(via ESPN) pic.twitter.com/ntj6B2Ghbo
— Baton Rouge Boot Krewe Media (@BatonRougeBKM) October 29, 2025

Ed Orgeron has joked in the past that once he understood how much buyout money LSU was set to hand him, he asked to sign the necessary papers and be shown the exit. Clearly, there's not much ill will between he and the leadership that ousted him. If the Tigers want to fire up a Bruce Springsteen track and relive some Glory Days, the man who led the 2019 buzzsaw is just a "phone call away."

Ed Orgeron would join Lane Kiffin's staff at LSU

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin celebrates | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Would LSU really call Ed Orgergon? It's hard to believe the same athletic director who fired him would turn around and rehire him four years later as head coach again. However, Orgeron be alright settling for a position on the LSU staff if a guy like Lane Kiffin is ultimately hired in Baton Rouge.

"Yeah, I'd consider it," said Coach O. "I love LSU. I still got my home in Baton Rouge. I loved when I was coaching for Coach (Les) Miles being the defensive line coach."

In other comments as part of his interview on ESPN, Ed Orgeron commented on the parting of ways the school made with Brian Kelly, and he did not hold back his actual thoughts.

"I think that's one of the things — whether it's true or not — the look from the outside, Brian Kelly never embraced the state of Louisiana," he said.

On the other hand, Ed Orgeron is always a guy who has embraced the Bayou and the way things are down in between the Gulf and the Mississippi. Perhaps it's time to find a dude like that space on the new regime, whether he's in charge of it or not.