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Ed Orgeron hopes to be better the second time around

By Matt Green

NASHVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: Head coach Ed Orgeron of the Ole Miss Rebels reacts to a play against the Vanderbilt Commodores on September 15, 2007 at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. The Commodores defeated the Rebels 31-17. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: Head coach Ed Orgeron of the Ole Miss Rebels reacts to a play against the Vanderbilt Commodores on September 15, 2007 at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. The Commodores defeated the Rebels 31-17. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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We are 10 days away from college football season, and today we talk about LSU’s new head man, Ed Orgeron.

The LSU Tigers went 2-2 to start last season, Les Miles was fired, and Ed Orgeron took over. The Tigers seemed to step their game up when Coach O took over. They went 6-2 in the final eight games of the season, and capped off the season by shutting down Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson and the Louisville Cardinals.

Last season was not Orgeron’s first time as an interim head coach. After Lane Kiffin was fired at USC in 2013, he took over and led the Trojans to a 6-2 finish to the season. Southern Cal decided not to retain Orgeron as the permanent head coach and instead hired Steve Sarkisian.

But it was different this time around. The Tigers’ fanbase seemed to rally around their hard-nosed, raspy-voiced coach. In November, LSU named Orgeron their permanent head coach. And this is not the first time he’s been a head coach in the SEC. And that leads us to no. 10 on the Southbound and Down College Football Countdown.

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While Orgeron might be a interim coach extraordinaire, his resume as a head coach isn’t quite as stunning. He’s posted at 12-4 record in two stints as an interim coach, but when he was the head man in Oxford, the Rebels went 10-25.

In three years from 2005 to 2007, Ole Miss went 3-21 in SEC play. And to make matters worse, Houston Nutt was hired after Orgeron was fired and led the Rebels to back-to-back 9-4 seasons.

However, the talent he had in Oxford is nothing like the talent he has in Baton Rouge. The Tigers are loaded with four and five-star prospects. Ole Miss was a rebuilding job, whereas LSU is ready to win now.

There’s also more history on his side. Les Miles coached at Oklahoma State for four years, leading the Cowboys to a 28-21 record, a .571 winning percentage. But in 12 years at LSU, he led the Tigers to ,114-34 record a .770 winning percentage.

Next: Five SEC players named first-team All-Americans

Now we’re not predicting Miles’ type of success for Ed Orgeron, but he’s definitely hoping it’s better the second time around.

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