The Ed Orgeron interim days as LSU’s head coach officially came to a close on Thanksgiving night, with a 54-39 LSU win over Texas A&M in College Station. With the victory, Orgeron’s record as LSU’s interim head coach is 5-2, with a 10-0 loss to No. 1 Alabama and a 16-10 loss to Florida last week.
LSU players chant, ‘Keep Coach O!’ after Ed Orgeron completes his audition
Could the 5-2 performance be enough to get him the full-time job?
Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports
After the Tigers’ victory, the scene was a special one, as members of the team celebrated the big win over the Aggies with Coach O, who’s considered a top candidate for the full-time job, along with Houston’s Tom Herman.
There were also some LSU fans and players who had high praise for the head coach, some adding sentiments of wanting Coach O to stick around as LSU’s head coach.
LSU senior linebacker Duke Riley was especially vocal, and he was able to show how much the team is behind Orgeron.
This appears to be Orgeron, attempting to address the team in the middle of the chant:
Our LSU blog in on board, too.
At this point, it’s all up to LSU AD Joe Alleva to make a pretty big decision.
On Friday, Orgeron is expected to meet with Alleva and make a pitch to be the head coach in 2017 and beyond, including introducing the idea of bringing a “premier” offensive coordinator into the program if he’s able to stay on.
However, there were mid-game reports that LSU’s drawing interest from Herman.
Orgeron hasn’t heard a word of these rumors, according to the coach himself after the game.
The bottom line is this: LSU was Orgeron’s shot to get a full-time head coaching job, just as he did at USC, when he took over for a fired Lane Kiffin and led the Trojans to a 6-2 record, along with an upset victory over No. 5 Stanford. USC decided to hire Steve Sarkisian instead of Orgeron, even though AD Pat Haden indicated that Orgeron was a legitimate candidate for the full-time job at the start of his interim stint at USC, as did Alleva earlier this season.
If LSU is not able to land Herman, it could find Orgeron is more of a viable option than the other candidates on the board.
One thing’s for certain: Orgeron has successfully won over the LSU players and fans in his seven games at the helm.
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