USC Morning Buzz: Ed Orgeron Back In The Picture

ORGERON.USCUSC coach Clay Helton has spoken to Ed Orgeron about a return to the Trojans as defensive line coach. Orgeron, currently an assistant with LSU, is interested, according to sources. Any deal could be contigent on whether athletic director Pat Haden approves on Orgeron returning and nothing will probably be determined until after LSU’s season is over.

69 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Ed Orgeron Back In The Picture

  1. Haden will approve – he isn’t that foolish to further implode his decision making per the football program.

    Looking forward to Ed Orgeron’s return.

  2. If this happens, welcome back CEO! Just love this guy with all his positive attributes and funny quirks 🙂

  3. If it is a really easy decision, Haden will okay it. Anything requiring any type of work will be met with disdain and silence.

  4. Would definitely be heartwarming to see Orgeron return to our team. But wait. Let’s draw up a very intriguing future scenario here. What if Helton flops in the next few years? That would definitely create the talks of making Orgeron his successor, right? And that means Orgeron will more than likely get that head coaching job he had so wanted at his first opportunity. I know I’m getting way ahead, but it certainly is a possible scenario.

      • That may be true, but I think it’d be pretty difficult for SC to just get rid of him for the second time if the scenario would play out like I’ve just suggested.

        • The answer is a new AD, which could pick another HC, if Helton bombs, passing over Coach O.

          • Billy Jean, as long as Max Nikias is president, you might as well consider Haden a fixture in the AD office no matter how bad he is. You get rid of Nikias, you get rid of Haden….

        • USC didn’t get rid of Ed, realtrojan —-he bolted. And the reason he bolted was that USC understood that the exact same things that made him such a stellar position coach —mainly, his earthiness and empathy—were going to work against him as Head Coach.

          • CEO doesn’t drink nor would he allow alcohol around the program. Chris Peterson doesn’t allow alcohol around his program. Sark allowed booze in the locker room after games for donors. Sark was hired partly because he would be ‘more’ fun for the players. Alcohol is a constant at USC fundraising events. Not so sure that his earthiness and empathy were so big a negative in the hiring decision.

        • Unlike Helton, if Orgeron had been a little more loyal to the program after being told he would not be considered the permanent coach replacing Kiffin, Helton continued to stick and got another chance as temporary HC. Look at him now. Orgeron might have blown it all by himself…

          • But Steve Sarkisian was a successful con artist, and had Pat Haden in his back pocket. So Ed Orgeron almost had to leave , because he like many other top assistant coaches in college football, were in the KNOW about Sarkisian. And nobody wants to be around that .

      • Coached at Ole Miss 2005-2007. With his recruits, Ole Miss gave the self-proclaimed Greatest Team of All Time Florida Gators their only loss in 2008. Great recruiter, three years as a Head Coach wasn’t enough time to prove or disprove anything.

  5. I think Ed would add something to the D line that has not been there in a while. But the way he walked out when he did not get his way still rubs me wrong

    • I’m with you Pete. Leaving to take a job elsewhere is one thing, but leaving when the team has a bowl game remaining is something else.

      • I’m with you on this, Helen. [Maybe Ed could undo the taint by bolting from LSU before their bowl game and joining us for ours].
        #justathought

        • Haha nice comment Charlie, I mean err Mr. G!
          LSU fans are beside themselves and really don’t want the beloved Coach O to go – but he will, and will bring with him amazing recruits

          • Helton and Ed! Me and Charlie! I didn’t think it was going to play out this way, Yolo!

    • Im not so sure that CEO was given a full picture or accounting of how Sark was hired and he wasn’t. That whole situation was a turd bomb from the background check until now. If its true the team was told of Sark’s hire prior to the UCLA game, that’s even more of a reason to leave when its clear you’re not wanted. A man of principle will stand up for his belief. If he was able to return, that would be a sign that maybe the culture in the USC athletic department is changing for the good.

    • What if Ed O knew the dark side of Sark after dark and would rather just go spend time with his family than deal with Haden and his lack of foresight? After what we have seen with Sark, it is TOTALLY understandable why he bolted.

      • “Sark after dark” —very nice (of course, it got dark for Sark every morning right about nine o’clock).

    • I know Coach O has this legacy of Miami & USC success. My concern is, has the game ( in the PAC-12 anyway) passed him by? Yeah he can handle the rough physical play of SEC football. It is right down his alley. Would his methods today work well in Big 12 or PAC-12 football where your linemen are slimmer-faster-and more athletic?

  6. Yes, Helton is going to reach out to Orgeron without approval from Haden and then go to Haden to ask for it. This is just another theory from Wolf that has no credibility. He use this later when Orgeron is not hired to blame Haden.

    • I guess you haven’t considered the very real possibility, baby blue, that Helton is playing a complex double game in which he, first, acts in excess of his jurisdiction as head coach so that he, second, will be forced to resign, and, then, will sue the university for thirty million [enabling him to join Sark’s life of sin in the backwaters of Vegas].

      • That’s a lot more complicated than just getting plastered every day but as you point out, the same endgame.

        • It was Roberto Rossellini (Isabella’s daddy, for you youngsters) who said, “there exists an infinity of ways of arriving at the same point” —although, I think, he may have been talking about salvation, not multi million dollar law suits.

      • The whole premise is based on Scott knowing inside information and that is where your theory falls apart.
        #Wolfisoutsideusc

        • The old, “a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link” thing, huh? Well, it was a funsome theory while it lasted….

  7. I like Ed Orgeron as much as most Trojans, but look at the facts. He is from and likes living in his current home. He left football altogether in order to avoid being an assistant coach here.
    I don’t think this spaghetti is sticking to the wall

  8. Why would Coach O leave LSU where he is the D Line Coach, leave his family and go back to LA? I wouldn’t even if he got more money, the taxes and cost of living will eat that up. EO should only come if he is the DC.

  9. Contingent on Pat Haden approving the deal ? Really? Haden has approved deals for imbecile assistant coaches so that’s not going to be a hang up. But good for Ed Orgeron, because he bleeds USC football and gives USC another award winning recruiter .

    • If PH stands in the way of bringing back coach O, he should be fired on the spot. He really should be fired anyhow. What gives him a lifetime tenure? Just because he is a former trojan football star? If you don’t do your job, you get fired. That’s just the way it is in america. They fired Mike Garrett and he was a trojan heisman winner and he was a real good AD.

  10. the never ending series of public humiliations at Clown College have made the Agin’ Cajin’s huffy departure an insignificant event. But alas and alack, Paddy O’Hadden is Cadre-like in his inability to ever forget a slight.

    #HeAin’tComing

    • You better HOPE he doesn’t come, because if he does, it’s gonna be LIGHTS OUT D, and right back to the 50-0 days instead of the usual 40-20 type romps…
      #MerryChristmas!

      • oh come ON!!! lets review the history of “returning trOXan” coaches:

        Robo Coach II: disaster
        Kiff: predictable disaster!
        Sark: TOTAL disaster!!
        Agin’ Cajun: ???

        of course, knowing that Hell-ton may not last the season, the Agin’ Cajun is crafty enough to recognize he could be in the catbird seat again if he comes back….would Paddy Boy have the nerve to jilt him AGIN’????

        #GiveHimACookie

  11. I’d assume the new DC would get to fill some of these junior spots. And from what I hear, the new DC is coming from Louisville. A re-trade’s re-trade if you will.

  12. Ed is probably saying it is contingent on Haden’s liver finally failing or him at least resigning. Haden has supplanted Fade (Kiffin) as the one man human toxic black cloud hovering over and wreaking major damage to the program. For those who thought he was a Domer plant I think you got that right. I mean could you do any more damage to the program if you intentionally wanted to do so than Haden has done through his bumbling and incompetence…or is it by design?

  13. Sounds like a good move. If it’s true, I hope Haden and Ed O can get over their last encounter together.

  14. Anyone notice there are a few idiots who, because they are butthurt from their Haden, Sark and Kiffin championing (and now embarrassed), that now hate Coach Orgeron! How dysfunctional.

    They say CEO “abandoned the team” as if they were in the room with Orgeron and Haden. What a crock of BS. What news outlet and what common sense says that Haden promised Orgeron he could stay? The decision would have been left up to Sarkisian, who has never got along with Sarkisian even during the Carroll days, and Orgeron KNEW that Sarkisian is a drunk just like Haden did! That’s on Haden. “Hey, dunno if you have a job, it would be contingent upon a drunk’s approval that doesn’t like you.” Clown U? No. Clown AD? Yes.

    They say Orgeron is not a head coach though his winning percentage at SC is better than Sark or Kiffin, and that is under the worst of circumstances.

    The sanctions and injuries don’t apply for Orgeron, though he did the best job of any coach since Carroll left, but they whined about them when Kiffin lost games to nobody teams.

    Just give up the ghosts, Sarkisian or Kiffin aren’t coming back to vindicate you. Everyone knows Haden made a bunch of bad decisions. You don’t have to take it out on Orgeron. It’s not fair nor does it make sense to make him your whipping boy at this point. And it looks stupid.

    • Agree, and he doesn’t deserve to be offered the D Line job. He should be the DC if Helton thinks he’s qualified otherwise don’t talk to him.

  15. Before this comment gets deleted, I thought it’s worth pointing out that all the other sites aren’t taking this news serious since it was broke by Scott Wolf. Don’t shoot the messenger Wolf.

  16. I thought Haden gave Helton carte blanche on who he wants to hire? That statement is from when Helton was named the head coach. If that is the case, then Haden will rubber stamp Oregeron hire. Haden doesn’t hold a grudge in like something like this.

  17. Why would Coach O consider any kind of offer from USC after the last shaft he got from them? Besides, LSU is the Pinnacle of College Football. Why go anywhere else?

  18. “If” AD Pat Haden has “any” issues about the return of Coach “O” then dismiss Pat Haden on grounds of “Incompetence” at play !

    The USC Coaches love “O”, The USC Players love “O”, The USC Fans love “O”, and…

    The USC Recruits “will” love “O” !!!

    And (x 2), a “First” Grader could figure it out, without help from a/the Teacher !

    Rhodes Scholars need not apply…

    FightOn

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