Ed Orgeron, Done at LSU, is a No-Brainer For the USC Job
Ed Orgeron and the LSU Tigers are parting ways at the end of this season according to Yahoo!'s Pete Thamel. Orgeron will finish the season on the sideline, but it doesn't sound like anyone wants him there. However much longer he's going to hang around at LSU, he has to be the new front-runner for the USC Trojans job.
Can confirm that Ed Orgeron is out at LSU after this season, as @RossDellenger reported. Orgeron is out after 2021, but expected to finish this year on the sideline.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 17, 2021
A source familiar with the situation at LSU: “It’s one of those things where no one wanted to be there anymore. The players didn’t want to play for him, the coaches didn’t want to coach for him.”
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 17, 2021
Urban Meyer has been the popular name mentioned for the USC job since Clay Helton was fired a little over a month ago, but Orgeron actually has connections to the school. Orgeron had two previous stints at USC, first as an assistant from 1998 to 2004 under Paul Hackett and Pete Carroll and then again from 2010 to 2013 under Lane Kiffin. He finished the 2013 season as interim coach after Kiffin was fired.
So the timing seems perfect for Orgeron to return to Los Angeles because he needs a job and they need a coach. You just have to wonder what exactly went so wrong at LSU.
Orgeron took over the Tigers after Les Miles was fired in 2016 and they finished a 15-0 season with a national championship on January 13, 2020. That was less than two calendar years ago. Now players don't want to play for him and coaches don't want to coach for him? That's an incredible turnaround.
This well-reported @BrodyAMiller piece goes into the many reasons Ed Orgeron is out at LSU — such as this detail: https://t.co/AiCIoiCKNs pic.twitter.com/ZemNazn31L
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) October 17, 2021
LSU went 5-5 last season and is off to a 4-3 start this year. How many players on the championship team were recruited by Miles? Where would Oregeron and LSU have been if Joe Burrow had gotten playing time at Ohio State? It makes you wonder, but if USC has a chance to get a big name coach who just won a title, they probably can't pass it up.