If USC’s new interim head coach Ed Orgeron is only a placeholder, a stopgap measure meant to hold the status quo until the “real” head coach shows up, nobody told Orgeron. Then again, the status quo was “Lane Kiffin,” and who would tell Orgeron to keep that up?
Ed Orgeron already remaking USC in his very unique image
Cookies, Roscoe’s and goofing around at practice? It’s Ed Orgeron’s show now.
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
At any rate, USC is already a new-look program off the field thanks to Orgeron imprinting his personality on the team, and as you’d expect from a former defensive lineman who has been given the keys to a program, that starts with food.
So far, Orgeron’s made a lot of smart moves as the interim head coach that are playing very well inside the program. He’s been very energetic and upbeat. He made a strong statement that he wasn’t going to use the sanctions or injuries as any excuse: “We’re Trojans. We put 11 out on the field and we fight.” He’s brought sweets back to the training table. He catered Roscoe’s (the legendary chicken and waffles place) for Thursday night dinner.
It’s not all just stuffing the guys’ faces with fried chicken, though. Also on the docket is the “Trojan Bowl,” which involves the entire two-deep coaching everyone who’s not on it (third-stringers and walkons) through a scrimmage. Here’s more on that and the general mood at USC these days:
Maybe it’ll be a short run for Orgeron, regardless of how his Trojans do. Starting 0-2 in conference play is a tough hole to dig out of, especially when games against Stanford and UCLA still loom. Maybe he’s just determined to squeeze as much fun as possible out of these next two months and isn’t even worried about using this as an audition to drop the “interim” tag. Maybe USC will respond with wins, maybe it won’t. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Sure seems like it’d be fun to stick around and find out, though.
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