Dream Job

He was born and raised in little LaRose, La.

He played and coached football across the bayou state; coached with and against the Tigers. So of course head coach of LSU is his dream job.

Ed Orgeron finally has the head coach’s position he has long dreamed of, but with one caveat. The word “interim” is attached, and will be for a number of weeks to go.

There’s no doubt the powers that be at LSU have no intention of making a final decision on one of the best coaching jobs from sea to shining sea until after the regular season. So until then, Coach “BeBe,” as he’s referred to in Cajun circles, is in the middle of the most-watched live audition in all of college football.

And so far so good.

Ed Orgeron

Since the firing of longtime coach Les Miles after the Auburn loss on Sept. 25, Orgeron has deftly guided the Tigers to routs over Missouri, Southern Miss and Ole Miss by an average of 29 points. He was the driving force in pushing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron out and inserting tight ends coach Steve Ensminger as offensive coordinator.

With that move, Orgeron has the previously predictable and punchless LSU offense playing on high octane, both running the ball and passing it.

The LSU game day operations crew should be cranking up Phil Collins iconic “Something in the Air Tonight’ before every home game. It’s obvious there’s definitely a different vibe surrounding this team since Orgeron is patrolling the sidelines.  The players are the same. So are the plays they’re running, for the most part. The defensive execution and schemes were never in question.

These guys are just performing light years above their early season losses against Wisconsin and Auburn.  (It should be noted that both the Badgers and Tigers have turned out to be pretty darn good teams — worthy of Top 15 rankings.)

You can see that old swagger is back and the players have a twinkle in their eyes.

Now, it’s hard to ignore the fact that a three-game gravy train has rolled through the friendly confines of Death Valley recently. Three home games.   Three blow-outs.

A big test for Orgeron’s regime was to be the Oct. 8 road game at Florida, but Hurricane Matthew had other ideas. That game will now come Nov. 19 at Tiger Stadium thanks to a much debated and belabored deal between the two schools and the SEC.

So the first real litmus test for these reinvigorated Cats will be against none other than No. 1 ranked, unbeaten and otherworldly Alabama.

As if not enough was riding on this annual mega-matchup under normal circumstances, now it could go a long way in deciding Orgeron’s fate and whether he retains the position.

From where I sit, a close game loss to Alabama should not weigh heavily against Orgeron for the simple fact that Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide are the defending national champions and look destined to go undefeated through the regular season.

Now if the Tigers, with a record crowd expected at Tiger Stadium to help keep LSU juiced, should up and upset Bama, then athletic director Joe Alleva might be tempted to gather the purple and gold power brokers and end the job search post haste.

The 55-year-old Orgeron has gone down this interim road before — back in 2013 while he was at Southern Cal. The Trojans grew tired of golden boy Lane Kiffin and fired him early in the season. Then USC A.D. Pat Haden handed the reins over to Orgeron, who guided USC to a 6-2 finish and a 9-4 overall record.

The Trojan players loved Coach O and openly supported his getting the head coach’s job permanently. But Haden had other ideas. He opted for another Pete Carroll protégé in then-Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian, whose 46-35 record with the Huskies wasn’t all that impressive.

If you recall, the Sarkisian stay in L.A. was a disaster, filled with losses and the head coach troubled with alcohol and alleged prescription drug abuse.   It was an ugly and embarrassing time for Southern Cal, which, in hindsight, probably wishes it had stuck with the Cajun no one except the players could understand.

So now Orgeron owns another “interim” label, and again he is challenged to prove himself again by winning games and convincing another athletic director, university officials, donors and boosters alike he can lead one of the most powerful and respected programs in the country.

There are certain critical and undeniable talents you should seek and factor in while deciding on a head coach at the FBS level and with the status of an LSU.

Can that coach establish and foster a culture of winning, performance, discipline and high character both on and off the field of play?

Orgeron has helped build championship programs. He owns four national titles; two at the University of Miami and two at USC. While a young assistant at Miami in 1991, there was a situation with a woman who secured a restraining order against Orgeron, and then, in 1992, an arrest in Baton Rouge stemming from his involvement in a bar fight. These were early growing pains. But since then, he has been a model citizen and coach.

A prospective head coach must be able to construct and guide an organization with impeccable leadership and staff hiring decisions. A head coach is only as good and effective as his assistants and position coaches. Orgeron is pretty much a career-long position coach, but has been tabbed as assistant head coach at both USC (by Pete Carroll) and Tennessee (by long-time friend Land Kiffin). He has worked under championship coaches in Jimmy Johnson (Miami) and Carroll (USC), and undoubtedly has learned a keen sense of organizational skills over his career.

Can your head coach recruit and be an integral leader in the life blood of any collegiate program? Well, it’s a fact Orgeron is one of the top recruiters in the country, and he’s proven it time and again. It didn’t take his cameo appearance in the hit movie The Blind Side to prove that point. (He was actually a better actor than Nick Saban and Phil Fulmer combined.) He held recruiting coordinator responsibilities at both Southern Cal and during his short stint at Tennessee. (He successfully recruited former Barbe star defensive back Janzen Jackson to Knoxville.) In 2004, while at USC, Orgeron was named National Recruiter of the Year.

Your candidate should have a proven record and resume as a head coach. There is too much at stake at LSU and in the almighty SEC West division to take a risk on an unproven commodity.

Here is where Orgeron might fall short of expectations. His only head coaching position was at Ole Miss from 2005 to 2007. During his three years in Oxford, Orgeron compiled an overall record of 10-25 and a dismal 3-21 in the SEC. In fairness, he inherited a losing program that had lost its way under David Cutcliffe.

Orgeron could not produce any measurable improvement from both sides of the ball, but he did have strong recruiting classes that laid the foundation for the Rebels’ renaissance. Since those dismal Ole Miss days, Orgeron seems to have corrected some of his mistakes based solely on the numbers. His 28 percent winning percentage with the Rebels has turned into a sparkling 82 percent win ratio so far during two stints as interim head coach.

Consider the fact that LSU’s last two coaching hires were somewhat of a reach. Saban was plucked from Michigan State, where in five years he amassed a 34-24-1 record. Les Miles came to Baton Rouge after four unspectacular seasons at Oklahoma State, where the Cowboys went 28-21 and 16-16 in conference play under the Mad Hatter.

But times have changed, and so has the money being shelled out to these Power Five head coaches.

Hire the wrong guy and your program can be set back and take years to recover. Just ask USC, Florida, Michigan and Notre Dame, to name a few.

LSU will no doubt have continued interest in the hot names like Houston’s Tom Herman and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher. But you have to wonder if their luster has dulled somewhat after multi-losses so far this season.

The Big 12’s surprising decision not to expand from their current 10 teams leaves Houston on the sidelines looking in. This means Herman will not pick up that contracted $5 million dollar bonus if the Cougars were to join the Big 12, and he will be more motivated to jump to a bigger Power Five conference if he gets the offer.

Herman has a great coaching resume (a national championship as quarterback coach under Urban Meyer at Ohio State) but only one impressive season at Houston.

Fisher, who spurned LSU’s advances late last year, has a track record that speaks for itself. Don’t be fooled by Fisher’s decision not to jump ship last year. That could change if LSU comes calling again.

I’ve changed my course in favor of Orgeron for the reasons outlined earlier. I think he has the knowledge, leadership, skill set and a better understanding of how to be the head coach after his long journey from LaRose, to McNeese (where he was a grad assistant coach in 1985); from Miami, to Los Angeles, Oxford, Knoxville and back to L.A.

The audition for his dream job continues, and he must continue to win and make sure the Tigers don’t suffer another November slump, as they did last year.

It’s a daunting mine field of ranked opponents. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Texas A&M. Coach BeBe doesn’t have to win them all, and odds are he won’t.

But that won’t mean he doesn’t deserve the job.