Ed Orgeron

Early years and playing career

Born to Edward "Bé Bé" Orgeron Sr. (d. 2011) and Cornelia "Co Co" Orgeron, Ed and his brother Steve grew up in Larose, a town on the Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. He is of Cajun descent. Orgeron attended South Lafourche High School in Galliano, Louisiana with future Michigan Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Bobby Hebert. Orgeron and Hebert played on the school's Class 4A state championship team in 1977. Orgeron signed to play football at Louisiana State University, but left the program after his first year to transfer to Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Early coaching years

Orgeron began coaching in 1984 as a graduate assistant at Northwestern State and the following year coached at McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He then served two years as an assistant strength coach under Ken Hatfield at the University of Arkansas. In 1988, he began his tenure with the University of Miami, under then-head coach Jimmy Johnson and his successor, Dennis Erickson. He was their defensive line coach for four of those years, in which he coached eight All-Americans (including NFL first-round draft choices Cortez Kennedy, Russell Maryland and Warren Sapp). While he was with the Hurricanes, the program won two national championships (in 1989 and 1991), and he recruited a young Dwayne Johnson (later known as "The Rock" in his professional wrestling and film careers) as a defensive lineman.

Starting in 1991, a series of personal problems began to surface for Orgeron: a local woman filed a restraining order against Orgeron, accusing him of repeatedly attacking her. In July 1992, Orgeron was arrested for his part in a bar fight in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Orgeron acknowledged he had been intoxicated that night and had grown angry when not allowed back inside to retrieve his credit card. In October 1992, Orgeron took a leave of absence from the University of Miami coaching staff for personal reasons; the departure turned out to be a permanent one, however, and he was replaced by assistant coach Randy Shannon. Taking a respite from coaching, Orgeron worked on his personal life: the permanent injunction against him was eventually rescinded, and the felony second-degree battery charges he faced were dropped. He stayed with his parents in Larose, crediting his father for helping him get his life in order.

Orgeron returned to coaching in 1994, but as a volunteer linebackers coach at Nicholls State University. The following year, he moved from the south to the northeastern U.S., accepting a job with head coach Paul Pasqualoni's staff at Syracuse University, where he coached defensive line for three years. Orgeron credited Pasqualoni for giving him a second chance at major-college coaching (after his prior personal issues had damaged his 'hireability'), and, helping him develop as a coach on- and off-the-field.

First stint at USC

In 1998, he was hired by offensive guru Paul Hackett, the newly hired head coach of USC (the University of Southern California), to coach the Trojans defensive line. After Hackett's 2000 firing, Orgeron was one of a handful of coaches retained by Hackett's replacement, Pete Carroll, a defensive specialist. The two had met during a high school football game when Carroll was still only a candidate for the head coach position, and connected over their shared passion for recruiting. During the Carroll years, USC enjoyed much success, including two (Associated Press) National Championships. Orgeron took on the added responsibility of Recruiting Coordinator in 2001, and was named assistant head coach in 2003. Orgeron won National Recruiter of the Year honors in 2004, the same year he was hired by Ole Miss to replace head coach David Cutcliffe.

Ole Miss

Upon arriving at Ole Miss, Orgeron attempted to bring USC's passing game coordinator, Lane Kiffin, with him as the new offensive coordinator, but Kiffin opted to stay with the Trojans.

Entering the 2005 season, Orgeron had hoped to bring a USC-style offense to the Southeastern Conference (SEC), but found limited success. The University of Mississippi's offense finished the season ranked 111th out of 117 Division I-A schools, in total offense; 115th in scoring; and, 116th in rushing. Orgeron's defensive experience, along with returning linebacker Patrick Willis, helped the Rebel defense in 2005, but as a result of the offensive woes, the 2005 team struggled and finished the season with a record of three wins and eight losses—the Rebels' worst record since 1987.

In response to the results of his first season, Orgeron fired offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone, replacing him with former University of Miami offensive coordinator Dan Werner. Also, Orgeron hired Art Kehoe, the longtime offensive line coach at the University of Miami; both assistants had just been fired by the University of Miami. In 2006, Ole' Miss finished the season ranked #108 in scoring offense, #111 in total offense, and #112 in passing offense.

Orgeron's second recruiting class in February 2006 was successful, acquiring the written pledges of a national Top 15 signing class. He followed that with the 32nd ranked recruiting class in February 2007.

At Ole Miss, Orgeron recorded only two wins against teams with winning records (the 2005 and 2007 Memphis teams, which both finished at 7–5)—the fewest among active SEC coaches at the time. Until the 2007 season, he enjoyed the public support of The University of Mississippi's chancellor Robert Khayat and other administrators with oversight of the football program, including Athletic Director Pete Boone. In a November 2006 article in The Clarion-Ledger, Khayat said of Orgeron and the poor win/loss record since he was hired (7–14, at the time of the interview), "I think Coach Orgeron inherited a very difficult situation....I am 100 percent behind him, and I think that people ought to understand that he has a big challenge."

In 2007, Ole' Miss finished the season 0–8 against fellow SEC teams, and 3–9 overall. It was the program's first winless (conference) season since 1982.

On November 24, 2007, after Ole Miss blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to in-state rival Mississippi State in the season finale, Orgeron was fired. He was replaced by former University of Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt (who had resigned from the Arkansas program three days after Orgeron's firing).

New Orleans Saints and Tennessee

On January 23, 2008, it was announced that Orgeron had been hired as the new defensive line coach of the National Football League's New Orleans Saints.

On December 31, 2008, Orgeron accepted a position with the University of Tennessee under its new head coach: former USC assistant-coach colleague Lane Kiffin. He worked as associate head coach, recruiting coordinator, and defensive line coach.

Second stint at USC

Orgeron returned to USC's assistant coaching staff on January 12, 2010, after Kiffin resigned from the University of Tennessee without notice to accept the USC head coach position vacated by Pete Carroll (who had returned to head coaching in the NFL). Orgeron was one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the Pac-12 Conference, with an annual salary of $650,000.

It was announced on September 29, 2013—after Lane Kiffin's firing—that Orgeron would be the interim head coach of the Trojans for the rest of the 2013 season, until athletic director Pat Haden found a permanent replacement.

After his experience at the Ole Miss, Orgeron decided to approach his second stint as a head coach differently. Instead of resuming the intense aggressiveness he had used as a defensive line and head coach, he used a different approach this time. Orgeron applied behavioral techniques he had used on his own teenage children, in an effort to approach his USC players "like my sons".

After receiving much praise for their upset win at home over highly ranked Stanford, the Trojans suffered a humiliating 35–14 defeat to cross-town-rivals UCLA—for the second year in a row—on November 30, 2013. This greatly threatened Orgeron's chances of winning the permanent head coach position. The Trojans were 6–2 under Orgeron, finishing the regular season with a 9–4 record. On December 2, 2013, ESPN reported that another former USC assistant coach under Pete Carroll—Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian—had accepted USC's offer to become the next Trojans head coach. After Orgeron was passed over for the job, he resigned.

LSU

On January 14, 2015, Orgeron was hired as the defensive line coach at Louisiana State University (LSU).

On September 25, 2016, after LSU head coach Les Miles was fired, Orgeron was named the team's interim head coach.

Orgeron stated that he was going to "flip the script". Orgeron wasted no time, promoting tight ends coach Steve Ensminger as offensive coordinator to help fix the teams offensive woes. Orgeron also brought back retired LSU coaching legend, Pete Jenkins, to take over his job as defensive line coach. Orgeron continued his philosophy that made him a successful interim head coach at USC. Orgeron also decided to shorten practices and spend more time in the film room in order to keep players fresh. In addition, he brought the "theme of daily practices" he modeled from coach Pete Carroll during Orgeron's first stint as an assistant at USC. These practice days have descriptive nicknames like Tell the Truth Monday, Competition Tuesday, Turnover Wednesday, No Repeat Thursday and Focus Friday.

Under Orgeron's watch, LSU went 5-2. On November 26, 2016, LSU removed the "interim" tag from Orgeron's title and formally named him as its 32nd full-time head coach.

In media

Orgeron appears as himself in the 2009 film The Blind Side as Mississippi's head coach, recruiting Michael Oher. In 2005, Orgeron had won an intense recruiting battle for Oher. Director John Lee Hancock contacted Orgeron about playing himself, despite having been fired by Ole Miss prior to the filming of the movie; Orgeron agreed and impressed the filmmaker with his enthusiasm.

In 2006, Bruce Feldman, then a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine, was allowed in-depth access to the Ole Miss program for a book about the recruiting process at a big-time college football program. The result was 2007's Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting, a book filled with anecdotes about Orgeron, which The New York Times described as "one of the most insightful books ever written about college football."

Personal life

Orgeron is known for his strong, gravelly voice, Cajun accent, and intensity while coaching. In 2006, during his time at Ole Miss, he was parodied in an internet video titled "Colonel Reb is Cryin'".

Orgeron was previously married to Colleen Orgeron. He met his second wife, Kelly, at the 1996 Liberty Bowl and the couple have three boys. Upon returning to USC in 2010, Orgeron lived in a hotel across the street from the campus while his wife and children made their home in Louisiana.

Coaching tree

Assistant coaches under Ed Orgeron who became NCAA head coaches: