Article Written By: Tyler J. Barrett
Since Ed Orgeron took over as the interim head coach at USC he has done some pretty amazing things for the athletic program in Los Angeles. Most impressively he led the Trojans to victory over Stanford on November 16. Stanford had an impressive 8-1 record going in to the home game for them, when in the last 25 seconds, USC kicked a game winning field goal. Since this incredible win, many have wondered, could Orgeron be a candidate for the full time head coaching job?
In 1998 Orgeron was hired by USC as a defensive line coach. When Pete Carroll came to USC in 2000, Orgeron was one of the few coaches he kept. As well as being the defensive coach, in 2001 Orgeron also became the recruiting coordinator, and was promoted to assistant head coach in 2003. From 2005 to 2007 Orgeron was head coach of Ole Miss, where he didn’t do too well. 2008 saw a better light for Orgeron however, as he was announced to be the new defensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints. He kept this position for barely a year though accepting a position as associate head coach, recruiting coordinator, and defensive line coach with the University of Tennessee Volunteers football program under head coach Lane Kiffin. In 2010, Kiffin took the head coaching job at USC, and brought Orgeron with him. When Kiffin was fired mid this season, Orgeron was declared the interim head coach. So far, Orgeron has won five of the six games he has coached.
At Ole Miss Orgeron wasn’t ready to be a head coach. He was trying to use the same tactics he learned from years under Pete Carroll. This did not work because the SEC plays a different style of football than the PAC-12 (PAC-10 at the time.) Now, enough time has passed, and enough knowledge has been gained that Orgeron is ready to be a head coach again. The players at USC love “Coach O.” It has been quoted by linebacker Hayes Pullard that “When you have a father figure like Coach O treating us all like sons and putting us under his arm, we want to run through a brick wall for him. One team, one heartbeat, we wanted to carry that over. We wanted to show him that we are with him no matter what.” The fans love him too. Orgeron is doing well both at, and for USC, he has certainly proven his worth over the years. Make Ed Orgeron the head coach at USC.
Another alright article. I just felt like this writer was a little biased towards the end. I get the feeling he’s a fan of the PAC-12? Anyways, I found many grammatical errors. Other than that, nice.