At 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning LSU athletic director Joe Alleva called Ed Orgeron.
Orgeron, who was sleeping at his home in Mandeville, Louisiana for the first time in eight weeks, missed the phone call from his boss.
“I missed it, but I called right back,” Orgeron said. “He said ‘How you doing?’ and I said, ‘Great when I hear your voice this early.'”
After days of speculation about who would LSU’s next coach, Alleva called Orgeron for meeting at the LSU administration building.
Orgeron had no clue if Alleva was going to offer him the job, but during his one-hour drive from Mandeville, he couldn’t contain his excitement.
“I was going very fast,” Orgeron said with a smile on his face. “I was listening to some of my greatest music and I was hollering about half the way. I was glad I didn’t get stopped … He didn’t tell me he was going offer me the job. I called Kelly and said I don’t they’re bringing me in to tell me I don’t have the job.”
After eight weeks of working as the interim coach at LSU, his dream had finally come true. The job Orgeron coveted was finally his: the head coach of LSU football.
For Orgeron, he never carried himself as an interim coach or thought of himself as a placeholder under LSU’s season was done.
He was aiming for the permanent job. In a news conference on Saturday, it became his.
“This is a great day in my life,” Orgeron said.
It was his second-stint to earn a head coaching job after going 6-2 at USC, where he didn’t earn the head coach gig. It was also another chance to show he had learned from his mistakes as Ole Miss’ coach where he was 10-25 and was fired after three seasons.
“That was a long time ago,” Alleva said. “In this world people learn more from their mistakes than their failures, than they do from their successes.”
No matter the different jobs or places Orgeron coached, his goal was to be at LSU in some type of capacity.
“I just wanted to have my feet on the grass,” Orgeron said.”Every step I went I was prepared to come back home to LSU. That was goal the whole time. Just go out to Miami, go to Syracuse, go to USC and be prepared and get better. I wanted to come back to be the best football coach that I could possibly be when I took this job.”
LSU entered his shortened season as head coach with College Football Playoff aspirations, but those dreams were shot after a 2-2 start and former coach Les Miles was fired the day after LSU’s 13-18 loss at Auburn.
In a search for a new coach Alleva outlined the requirements for a head coach to create a new culture. He said, first, the coach must be a skilled recruiter.
Orgeron, the Tigers’ former recruiting coordinator, fits that characteristic for Alleva.
“We know where Coach O’s heart is,” Alleva said. “We know where his love is. We know where his passion is.”
“I’ve seen how he’s changed the culture of this football program,” Alleva said. “You can’t imagine how he’s changed the culture. The attitude of the players. The attitudes of the people in building. It’s phenomenal. I just know it’s going to continue.”
For LSU football players, the culture around the LSU practice facility has changed since Orgeron took reigns on Sept. 26.
Orgeron’s “one team, one heartbeat” motto resonated with the players as they said they grew closer. There was shorter practice times with more spent in the film room.
Orgeron’s ascension to head coach came with ups and downs, though.
One week after LSU’s lost 10-0 in grudge match with No. 1 Alabama, Orgeron and his players responded on the road and defeated Arkansas 38-10 — breaking a two-year losing streak to the Razorbacks.
His biggest impact reflected on offense, where in five of the seven games he coached, LSU shattered offensive records.
Five days following LSU’s hopes for a Sugar Bowl bid ended in a goal-line stop in a 16-10 loss to Florida, Orgeron and LSU regrouped for 54-39 throbbing of Texas A&M.
“I always felt that I always had the chance to be the head coach here,” Orgeron said.
Minutes after LSU’s Thanksgiving victory against the Aggies, LSU players chanted “Keep Coach O!” inside the Aggies visitor’s locker room.
For LSU fans, they finally had a coach who was from Louisiana. Orgeron becomes the first Louisiana native to become LSU’s football coach since Jerry Stovall was the coach since 1980.
“I know Louisiana is happy today,” Orgeron said. “A bunch of prayer groups, a bunch of churches had been by our side. From North Louisiana to South Louisiana to Lake Charles to Boutte. Everybody is happy, so am I.”
The Larose native is finally home. Officially.
“This is bigger than life,” Orgeron said.
