Orgeron went 6-2 as interim head coach for both USC and LSU

Know what I love about O ...

He got the brains to do all that he’s done and being celebrated in prep for earning a:

1. SEC West Crown
2. SEC Crown
3. National Coach of the Year
4. A spot near that stage watching his boy Joe collect a Heisman Trophy
5. A Number 1 Ranked Recruiting Class with tons of talent enrolling early in Dec to SIT ON THAT SIDELINE WHILE WE WIN A NATTY and to play in spring early to get ready for starting in fall

ALL OF THIS I PREDICTED PRESEASON ALONG WITH A 47 PPG OFFENSE (that received tons of hee haws from the forum crickets)

But you know what I really love about O ...

His secrecy in BUILDING A WALL AROUND LOUISIANA for recruiting and his secret allegiance to in-state coaches that:

a) keep Saban, et al the fuck out of Louisiana in these summer camps
b) guarantee a huge $600K payday for their schools to play LSU
c) guarantee that LSU will not cover the Vegas spread guaranteeing that these coaches (and whoever) can make an annual killing (Ole Ramah did $25K)

 

The only person that actually believes that Coach O had anything to do with Miles being canned is taint and he is a fool.

 

imo, yes... Jimbo was using us to get a better deal, either with free shoes or at a&m... as i stated before, he's responsible for the shit show happening at fsu and why they are no longer the cream of the acc crop... as far as herman is concerned, i think he may have taken the job if the shorthorns position wouldn't have become available but he would've always had an eye toward going to austin... we are not a stepping stone school but i think it would've been for him... also, he was getting looks for what he did at houston, and we know what happened to the last houston coach that moved to the big time... we got the guy who wants to be here, can recruit and seems to learn from his mistakes (fairly quickly too, with canada)...

 

Anger is not the right word. Disappointed is better. Alleva had no clue how to hire a CFB coach. Guess they didnt do that at Duke. He/LSU were used as tools to leverage a better deal.

Having said that, O deserved the chance to prove Alleva made the right decision in end. That chance does not preclude either he or any of his staff of criticism. Anyone that thinks otherwise is full/new taint.

 

Ok we get that, my question is what would have been the right thing to do in your opinion. You are the AD ,what sort of search do you conduct?

 

I would have went after Herman, but I would have stepped back given his interest in TX and their willingness to throw money his way. The cost/risk ratio would have skewed relative to other available coaches.

I would have briefly considered Jimbo then passed because he’s fool’s gold (it still would have been a coup to snatch him from FSU at the time, so at least from a PR perspective it would have been good).

Coaches like Fleck could have been considered, but the risk/reward doesn’t net you much more than O, and is arguably a riskier higher. Especially following the Miles fiasco (at worst, O was a good fall guy).

I quickly hopped onboard the O train, with a short leash. Keeping Aranda was huge. Pulling Canada in was also impressive.

 

In my view Oeaux was the right choice from the beginning. As far as Canada I believed back then as I do now Canada was forced on Oeaux. I believe as part of his hiring by Aleeva was that he completely change the offense and Canada was the hot name and probably directed to get him. I am so glad Oeaux didn't waste a lot of time on him, I hated that offense.

 

Ask Tenn about that. Remember their debacle? Every coach they went after turned them down and their search drug out so long that, not only did it sink their recruiting class, but it turned into a national embarrassment. And then they got stuck with their last possible choice, Jeremy Pruitt.

 

I was interested to see the CEO approach vs hot young coordinator-turned-HC. Even though Miles was kind of a CEO, he was also a hard head. Or water head. Or whatever.

 

Tennessee is on a 5 game win streak with Pruitt. If they give him time I think he’ll do well if he can recruit.