It’s a wacky week in Southeastern Conference football coaching when LSU’s Ed Orgeron is the model of stability.
Two Thanksgivings ago, Orgeron was LSU’s defensive line coach and entered the regular-season finale against Texas A&M not knowing whether his boss, Les Miles, would be retained. The Tigers defeated the Aggies 19-7 and Miles persevered, but he was fired four games into the 2016 season.
Orgeron took over the Tigers on an interim basis and entered last Thanksgiving not knowing whether he would get the full-time position. Two days after winning 54-39 at Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night, Orgeron landed his dream job.
“It’s college football and how volatile this business is,” Orgeron said Wednesday. “This is a tremendous opportunity I have to be the head coach at LSU. The expectations are high and I know that, and we expect the same of ourselves. I’ve been in college football for more than 30 years, and that was a very emotional night (two years ago). I remember walking down the Tiger Walk with Coach Miles, and I just remember how he handled himself all week as a champion and never mentioned his job or anything.
“The focus was to win the game, and that helped me last year when we went to Texas A&M. We blocked out the noise, because there was a lot of stuff going on out there.”