Former head coach for the Louisiana State University Tigers football team, Coach Ed Orgeron is quite a character.
Known for his personable and comedic antics in interviews, as well as his low-grumbling speaking voice, the man is definitely a hoot.
And after serving the previous six years as LSU’s Head Coach, Orgeron is finally speaking out about his not-so-subtle ending at the university.
In an interview with the Little Rock Touchdown Club earlier today, Coach O shared his gratitude for being part of the team for so many years:
“I’m so grateful of my time with LSU. That was my opportunity. Coaches got a shelf, some coaches got fifty years, some coaches got twelve, mine was six! Good!”
He then went on in his humorous way to tell the story of how things ended, sharing a meeting where he was technically fired, though the story makes it seem more mutual:
“We had a meeting, they said, ‘Coach, things are not going well.'”
He replied:
“Well, no shit… Ray Charles can see that, brother!”
He then shared that his parting ways with the team included the payout of his contract, only a mere $17.1 million dollars, which he took kindly to in his response:
“They said, ‘Coach, You got $17.1 million dollars on your contract, we gon’ give it to ya.’
And I said, ‘when you want me to leave, and what door you want me out of, brother?’”
Legend.
Coach O Says Joe Burrow Was The Smartest Person In The Room At LSU
Joe Shiesty, Joe Cool, Joe Burrrrrrow… Joey Big Brains?
Ok, I made the last one up, but according to Coach O, Joe Burrow was the smartest man in the room at LSU… and right there in that recruiting meeting, that’s when he knew Joe would be the quarterback to lead their team to the promised land.
But with a few of his LSU Tigers in Los Angeles for the Super Bowl this weekend, Coach O sat down for an interview with Dan Patrick, and got to talking about when he was recruiting Joe Burrow.
Dan asked Coach O when he realized Joe Burrow had that “it” factor that we’re all seeing play out before our very eyes right now?
It was back during his recruiting visit… but it wasn’t on the field. It was in the film room…
“He tells me, ‘coach I don’t wanna talk to you, I don’t wanna hear your recruiting game… I just wanna talk football and eat crawfish.’
I was kind of frustrated to be honest, I couldn’t get my claws on him… I never had a recruit that didn’t want to talk to the head coach.
We have a football meeting and we had set up some plays that he had run at Ohio State… and all of the sudden we start watching the film, I start asking Joe questions, and I figured out immediately that Joe was the smartest person in the room, including me and all the coaches. And I was happy bout that.
And that showed me his football intelligence what I saw in that meeting, that’s what you see today.”
Trying To Land Adrian Peterson
From 1998 Coach O was hired as the defensive line coach at USC under head coach Pete Carroll, and was later named recruiting coordinator in 2001, and assistant head coach in 2003.
After stops at Ole Miss, the New Orleans Saints and Tennessee, Coach O came back to USC in 2010, where he was one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in college football under Lane Kiffin. In 2013, when USC hired Steve Sarkisian instead him to replace Kiffin (he was the interim head coach at the time), he resigned.
Of course, we all know about his time at LSU and the rest is history.
But one of his biggest recruiting moves involved one of the best running backs of all time, Adrian Peterson.
“Man I loved him… we go down to see Adrian, and Adrian had a great relationship. He loved Pete Carroll, I felt like him and I were very tight.
I said, ‘well Adrian what is the key to getting you here at USC?’ He said, ‘well coach, my dad is incarcerated and Bob Stoops went to see him.’ Me and Pete Carrol tried to go see him and they wouldn’t let us in.
He said, ‘My dad is able to watch my games where he’s at if I go to Oklahoma.’
I tried to get the guy transferred to Los Angeles… I competed, couldn’t get it done, but I competed.”
Coach O and Pete Carroll literally tried to get his dad switched to a new prison so he could watch his games at USC. Granted, it didn’t work, but it brings a whole new meaning to “by any means necessary.”
Coach O will be taking the next year off, but this definitely isn’t the last of him.
