The Reign of O Begins

Back on September 26, 2000, I watched LSU take on Auburn at the home of a fraternity brother. LSU lost 34-17 in a rather unmemorable game. However, two things still stick in my mind to this day. One, someone let their four year old repeatedly run in front of the TV during the game. (RUDE!!)  The other was a comment repeated by someone's wife multiple times during the game, “we paid $1.2 million for this?”

She was referring to the, at the time, very large salary of Mr. Nicolas Lou Saban Jr. Of course Saban has gone on to be arguably the greatest college head coach of all time. And to think LSU got him for the paltry price of $1.2 million!

On the front end of each of these coaching hires everyone is an expert. On the back end, everyone will say 'I told you so'.

In 2008, Clemson promoted 39 year old wide receiver coach Dabo Swinney to head coach. He had never been a head coach or coordinator at any level. Seven years later, Swinney was a few plays away from winning a National Title in the 2015 Championship game versus Alabama.

In 1998, USC hired the well regarded Paul Hackett as their head coach. Hackett had won a Super Bowl with the 49ers as their offensive coordinator in 1984. He also served as the Chiefs' offensive coordinator from 1993-1997, making the playoffs four times. But Hackett was fired from USC after three disappointing years with a record of 19-18.

Finally, I would point you to Jeremy Foley at Florida. The same man that hired Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan also hired Ron Zook and Will Muschamp.

The point being, we don't really know how these coaching hires will go. But I get the feeling a segment of the LSU fan base has already given up any hope that the Orgeron era will be a success. Were there more “qualified” candidates out there? Yes. Were there candidates with better resumes out there? Yes. Was I hoping for a head coach with a sharp offensive mind? Yes!

But I'm happy to give Coach O a chance. He's tasted failure. He knows many folks locally and nationally think he's in over his head. I like that. It makes him hungry. He's going to out work people. He's going to expect the best from his assistants. He's got a chip on his shoulder, a chip that will be taken up by his players.

It's an unorthodox hire for sure. And it just may damn well put LSU back on top.