By the time then-freshly hired LSU football head coach Brian Kelly walked off of the court at halftime of an LSU basketball game in 2021, the seeds were planted.
It may not have been apparent at the time, but the Boston-area native’s cadence was off. He sported — test-drove — a Southern twang that came out especially when he said that he was at the arena “with [his] ‘fam-lee.’” He framed his predicted future success as winning “his” games.
Outsiders mocked Kelly in the moment, and years after the fact, for his inauthenticity on that December night. Those in the crowd at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and around the LSU ecosystem cheered, but the doubts of him being an outsider were cast. Those who lived it, who grew up around and served in the program, saw right through it.
One of those people was his predecessor, Ed Orgeron.
“It’s over. He ain’t got a chance,” Orgeron said on a taping of the “Pardon My Take” podcast earlier this month, recalling his thoughts when he saw the clip of Kelly’s introduction.
While the length of Orgeron’s tenure — six seasons — at the helm of the LSU football program was not much longer than Kelly’s — the better part of four seasons — the two’s backgrounds could not contrast more.
Kelly hails from Everett, Massachusetts, a suburb directly north of Boston. Prior to taking the LSU gig, his resume was filled by jobs at schools in the country’s heartland in conferences that used terms like “Great Lakes,” “Midwest” or “Middle America” in their names.
His last two stops before LSU were at Cincinnati and Notre Dame, schools in Ohio and Indiana, respectively. In the college football landscape, these schools are worlds apart from programs like LSU.
Orgeron is from Lafourche Parish, and he grew up in a town shaped by the unique coastal geography of Louisiana. He carries his home with him in his mannerisms, his unmistakable voice and accent and, critically, his understanding of what LSU football means to the state.
As such, it’s no surprise that results between the two coaches also varied.
Orgeron brought the program to a New Year’s Six bowl victory in 2018 and headed perhaps the greatest team in college football’s history to an undefeated national championship the next year.
Even though he couldn’t rebound from the post-2019 hangover, his success and personality turned him into a legendary figure at LSU leading up to and following his departure at the end of 2021.
Kelly delivered 10-win seasons in each of his first three years, having a signature victory over Alabama in his first clash with the Crimson Tide at LSU. The Tigers appeared in the SEC championship that season and would’ve been in playoff consideration with a win, but they got drubbed by Georgia.
The early success never had a follow-up. Then, the culture within Kelly’s LSU became publicly contentious.
In his final season, Kelly was standoffish with reporters, referring to them as “spoiled.” He was reluctant to let program alumni around the facility. He was accused of not offering support to the parents of Kyren Lacy and to the family of Greg Brooks Jr. He refused to fire then-offensive coordinator Joe Sloan as the offense slumped, a decision that led to the firing of both.
That disconnect created an impetus for the next head coach to understand what it means to lead a program in the SEC.
The immediate answer was promoting Frank Wilson III, a New Orleans native, to interim head coach. The long-term answer was luring Lane Kiffin, not a native to Louisiana nor the South but an almost two-decade SEC coaching veteran, to the program.
Kiffin heading to LSU has been spun in every way. It’s the moves after Kiffin’s return, though, that reveal the agenda to revive the program’s culture.
Kiffin started by retaining Tulane alumnus and elite defensive coordinator Blake Baker. A few months later, he followed it up with an even bigger splash.
LSU announced last week that Kiffin hired Orgeron in a special assistant role, covering defense and recruiting. It is a reunion for Orgeron and Kiffin, along with a return to LSU. The non-traditional role indicates the honorary function that Orgeron will serve, but Kiffin made sure to acknowledge the impact Orgeron will have on the program in his statement.
“[Orgeron] brings us tremendous value with his ability to recruit elite players nationally,” Kiffin said. “Especially the impact he can have for us recruiting the great state of Louisiana.”
Orgeron brings a specialized understanding of recruiting in the state to the program. He demonstrated that understanding later in the podcast, outlining Louisiana’s unique cultural geography.
“Baton Rouge is right here, but north Louisiana is different.” Orgeron said, using his hand to demonstrate where places were. “Then you go all the way to New Orleans, and New Orleans is like a different country, and then you go down where I’m from — that’s totally different from anything else.”
Orgeron carries experience in every region of the state. His upbringing in south Louisiana, playing days in Natchitoches at Northwestern State, and time at LSU on the I-10 corridor give him, and thus LSU, an edge in recruiting.
The recruiting trail is something he’s gotten to work on right away, using that expertise during a FaceTime meeting with four-star recruit Trey Martin from the northern part of the state.
Even with his local background being so expansive, Orgeron’s best trait may be his authenticity.
His passion was present in the locker room, shouting expletives directed at a non-present Alabama team after LSU’s win over them in 2019. It was present in recruitment when Joe Burrow shared that Orgeron had crawfish delivered to a restaurant during a recruiting dinner after it didn’t appear on a menu. It was present every time he signed off an interview with a gravelly “Geaux Tigers.”
For every duty on a college football coach’s plate, there is almost always a story involving Ed Orgeron. More often than not, that tale is equal parts success story and folklore.
It all comes together to build a figure that the fans and the players revere.
“The players got to trust you; you got to be who you are,” Orgeron said. “If you try to be somebody you ain’t, they’re going to smell it right away.”
The Orgeron hire serves as a letter of intent from Kiffin that this is a new era of LSU football, that the program’s culture matters and that it will honor the state.
Success is never guaranteed, especially not in the SEC, but the program is better off with the culture-first approach.
