LSU added one of its former national championship head coaches back to its football staff Wednesday.
The program announced the addition of Ed Orgeron to new coach Lane Kiffin’s first-year staff on which he will serve as the special assistant to recruiting and defense, the program shared via news release.
“I’m excited to bring coach Orgeron back to LSU,” Kiffin said. “He brings us tremendous value with his ability to recruit elite players nationally, but especially the impact he can have for us recruiting the great state of Louisiana. Coach O understands my expectations and commitment to being a championship program. I look forward to seeing him with recruits and his intensity working with our defensive players.”
Orgeron spent nearly six seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, including a 51-20 overall record, 29-14 in Southeastern Conference play and his leadership of the 15-0 national championship team in 2019 led by quarterback Joe Burrow and the record-setting offense.
He initially took over in an interim capacity when the university moved on from Les Miles four games into the 2016 season and held the position through the conclusion of the 2021 regular season.
LSU’s hiring of Brian Kelly during the winter of 2021 drew question marks regarding the cultural fit of a Massachusetts native who spent his entire career in the northeast and midwest.
The talking point came in no small part to the juxtaposition of following Orgeron, a Larose native who won a state championship at South Lafourche in 1977 before signing with LSU in 1979, playing the bulk of his college career at Northwestern State.
He maintained strong relationships throughout his home state throughout a long coaching career that included graduate assistant years at Northwestern State and McNeese State and years on the Nicholls State, the New Orleans Saints and LSU staffs and tenures at USC and Tennessee in which he and Kiffin worked together.
Orgeron has remained close to the game since his departure from LSU, traveling to visit several programs around the country including Tulane, Miami and Baylor where his sons held positions.
