BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU football coach Ed Orgeron has agreed to a contract extension worth more than $7 million annually that runs through the 2026 season, the university announced Friday.
The new six-year agreement comes on the heels of the Tigers' 15-0 season that concluded last week with a 42-25 victory over Clemson in the College Football Playoff final in New Orleans.
Contract language, which remains subject to approval by the board of supervisors, calls for a base salary of $6 million plus various performance-related bonuses.
"Coach O has set a new standard at LSU," athletic director Scott Woodward said in a release announcing the deal. "He has proven that he is not only a championship coach, but also a leader of a program committed to doing things the right way. He has represented our institution and our state with great pride, on and off the field of play."
Woodward added the new contract "should make clear our commitment to Coach O and the direction of our football program."
AP photo by Gerald Herbert / LSU football coach Ed Orgeron, right, is greeted by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards during an on-campus celebration of the Tigers' 15-0 national championship season this past January in Baton Rouge, La.The 58-year-old Orgeron was the consensus national coach of the year for the 2019 college football season.
He has led LSU to a 40-9 mark since initially taking over on an interim basis in 2016. Of his 40 wins at LSU, 12 have come against teams ranked in the top 10 at the time of the matchup, including seven this past season, which stands as the most in college football history for a single season.
His 40 wins through the first 49 games of his career ties for the most by any coach in LSU history to that point.
Orgeron grew up in Larose, about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, and passionately followed LSU football as a child.
"I'm happy to represent LSU and this great state," Orgeron said in the release. "My family and I are very grateful, and I look forward to working as hard as possible to continue to win championships at LSU."
Orgeron was an assistant and recruiting coordinator for the Tigers when he took over as interim coach after Les Miles was fired four games into the 2016 season. He was retained on a permanent basis before LSU's bowl game that season.
His promotion represented a lifelong dream for the Louisiana native who won a state title as a player at South Lafourche High School and received a scholarship to play for LSU, only to drop out of school briefly before resuming his college playing career at Northwestern State.
After that, he embarked on a long, winding coaching career that included stops as a college assistant at Syracuse, Miami, Tennessee and Southern California, as well as an unsuccessful stint as head coach at Ole Miss. He also briefly served as a defensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints, who play their home games in the Superdome - the site of LSU's championship win on Jan. 13.
This past season was the most successful in the 126-year history of LSU football, spearheaded by a nation-leading offense that broke a slew of school records. Joe Burrow became just the second Heisman Trophy winner in LSU history and the school's first quarterback to receive college football's most prestigious individual award.