Mere hours, or even minutes, might have prevented Ed Orgeron from joining Les Miles’ LSU staff in 2009.
But this time Miles got his man, and as sure as the summers on the Bayou are muggy and brutally hot, Orgeron will make his presence felt at a program that has sort of idled the past three years on the periphery of college football’s elite after living there for much of Miles’ tenure.
With Orgeron, there is no idling. It’s 100 mph, every day, every practice and every minute. It’s the way he coaches and the way he recruits.
A native Louisianan, Orgeron will be a perfect fit on that defensive staff, along with first-year coordinator Kevin Steele. As a pair, they will make up one of college football’s dynamic duos when it comes to recruiting, and that’s not even counting running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Frank Wilson, who’s a prolific recruiter in his own right.
It’s a homecoming for Orgeron, although he never really left home in the first place. His family lives in Mandeville, Louisiana, which is on the North Shore just outside New Orleans. Orgeron has recounted talking to Miles about a job on LSU’s staff in 2009 before Orgeron went to Tennessee with Lane Kiffin for a season. Before finalizing anything with Tennessee the night before he was supposed to fly to Knoxville, Orgeron texted Miles a salary figure he wasn’t sure Miles could get to and didn’t hear back before going to bed that night.
Orgeron hopped on an early flight to Knoxville the next morning, and when he landed and turned on his cellphone, he had a string of texts from Miles wanting to know what time Orgeron could be in Baton Rouge that afternoon.
By then, it was too late. But this time, the stars aligned, and Orgeron is returning to the sideline after taking a year off last season and is as charged up as ever about being back in the game.
His energy is infectious and has a way of permeating an entire program. Look at what he did with that USC team after taking over as interim coach in 2012 after Kiffin was fired. Players from all backgrounds gravitate to Orgeron. They relate to him, and they lay it on the line for him because they know he’s willing to do the same for them.
One of the biggest misnomers about Orgeron is that he’s just a recruiter. He’ll have a much more profound impact on LSU’s program than simply being able to go out and recruit great players. Besides, it’s not like LSU has been hurting when it comes to attracting talented players to campus.
Orgeron is also one of the best defensive line coaches in the country and has a knack for bringing out the best in all of his players. He’s demanding, tough and always colorful. Thanks to his insatiable energy and larger-than-life personality, he’s one of those coaches with whom recruits, their parents and grandparents immediately identify during the recruiting process.
Nobody knows the state of Louisiana better than Orgeron, who grew up in a small Cajun town, Larose, on the Bayou Lafourche. He and lifelong friend Bobby Hebert, the former NFL quarterback, played together at South Lafourche High School and won a state championship in 1977. Orgeron played college football at Northwestern State in Louisiana and was recently inducted into the Demons’ Hall of Fame. He even coached one season on the New Orleans Saints’ staff in 2008.
Orgeron is about as Louisiana as it gets, which is only going to help LSU as it tries to keep the premium talent at home.
The Tigers have done well in that area, for the most part. But in recent years, highly rated players Landon Collins, Cameron Robinson, Tim Robinson, Torshiro Davis and Speedy Noil all decided to leave the state.
You never get them all, but Orgeron is one of those guys who thinks you should, and that’s the way he operates in just about everything he does in life.
Recruiting in the SEC has long been the equivalent of a battle royal in professional wrestling. With Orgeron back in the league, it just got even better.