LSU head coach Lane Kiffin provided an update today on the health of Ed Orgeron – who many know as “Coach O,” the former national championship-winning coach of the Tigers.
There’s no doubting that Ed Orgeron was a great coach for Louisiana State University. Orgeron was the head coach from 2016 to 2021, and boasted a record of 51 wins and 20 losses during that time. One of those wins was the 2019-20 National Championship. Some say that Joe Burrow led team, which went undefeated, is the best college football team that’s ever taken the field.
Coach O built up the LSU program quickly, and then it all came crumbling down just as fast. He was fired and his contract was bought out in 2021, which spawned Ed Orgeron’s famous “What time do you want me to leave and what door do you want me out of?” line.
In a crazy turn of events, when LSU hired Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss in late 2025, the new coach of the Tigers decided to bring back Coach O to his staff. Orgeron’s official title is “Director of High School Recruiting,” but he’s also been helping with the LSU defense, and he was serving in that role up until he experienced some sort of undisclosed health problem.
Coach O missed some preseason practices and the first two games of the 2026-27 season after a health issue popped up in mid-August. Kiffin apparently even sent Orgeron home from a practice when he could tell he wasn’t feeling well, and he hasn’t been with the team since.
Lane Kiffin finally provided an update of sorts on Coach O’s condition earlier today during time with the media:
“He’s doing better. It was a little bit scary. I’m not going to get into any details with that. But he’s doing better. He’s still not all the way back. He just means a lot to me, we’ve just been through a lot. His passion… he probably shouldn’t have joked one day.
He said, ‘Hey, coach. You know I’m never going to the hospital, man. If I die, I’m dying out on that field there.’ That’s who he is, that’s how he is with everything. Sometimes that’s not always the best thing to follow.”
From how Kiffin laid all of that out, and from his comments about Ed Orgeron joking about not going to the hospital, it’s possible that whatever is ailing Coach O is fairly serious.
There’s been no official reports as to what Ed Orgeron is dealing with, but as you can tell from the LSU coach’s demeanor during that presser, it certainly rattled him, since he described the health issues as “a little bit scary.” That being said, it sounds like Coach O is doing better, and here’s to hoping college football fans soon see Coach O stomping up and down the sidelines at LSU saying “Go Tigers” in his patented Bayou accent.
That first sight of him on the sidelines once again – wearing purple and gold – was already highly anticipated anyways. Now it’ll mean that much more knowing he had to overcome a health battle to get there.
