Dave Aranda, upon becoming Baylor’s head coach, paid tribute to Orgeron with this comment: "I told him that I have learned more from him, than any other coach I have been around.” In interviewing for the LSU job, Orgeron advanced the concept of paying the head coach less and the coordinators more. It was his way of retaining Aranda and making him the highest paid assistant football coach in the country. This move not only led to Coach O getting his dream job, it had a major role in LSU winning the national championship in 2019.
More on that later. Orgeron was a man possessed once he became the head coach. He launched myriad improvement projects. He called for a major overhaul of the LSU offense. He hired Joe Brady from the Saints, and the installation of the spread began last spring. The result was revolutionary. He got some magical performances from a number of key athletes in the fall and the Tigers won it all. The headlines focused mostly on the record-breaking passing game and Joe Burrow, the Heisman-winning quarterback. Admittedly, it was a perfect match for the Tigers. Orgeron needed a quarterback like Burrow. And Burrow needed a coach to believe in him.
It’s a beautiful story, but it’s not the whole story. “One Team; One Heart Beat” is not just Coach O’s slogan. “The slogan suggests that no one is bigger than the program,” Marucci says. Improving the program has been Orgeron’s mission. He made positive changes to the coaching staff and added analysts by the dozen. Every hire seemed right. A new special teams coach, Greg McMahon, made an immediate impact on that phase of the game. A new offensive line coach, James Cregg, developed the nation’s best offensive line in two years. Steve Ensminger was the ideal “team man” of the staff, serving as offensive
coordinator, then tight ends coach, and offensive coordinator again in successive seasons. What we’ve seen in Tiger Stadium recently has a lot to do with the lessons Orgeron learned from his mentors. Some believe his desire to adopt the spread/RPO offense and the “attacking defense” came from his time coaching at Southern Cal in the PAC 10. Orgeron worked for several coaches who were instrumental in helping him develop into a championship coach. Erickson at Miami, Carroll at Southern Cal, and Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints have all won the ultimate prize. And they all played a role in Orgeron becoming what he calls, “a complete coach.”
How did Orgeron’s retaining Aranda influence the national championship? • Aranda brought Bill Busch, the former Nebraska assistant coach, onto the LSU staff in 2018 to coach the safeties. The two had worked together at Wisconsin and Utah State. • In 2015, Busch was on the staff at Ohio State, where a freshman quarterback named Burrow captured his attention. He had been on the Nebraska staff when Burrow’s brother Dan played for the Cornhuskers in 2004. • Busch was excited when Joe Burrow, in 2018, entered the NCAA transfer portal to become a graduate transfer. “If we get him, coach,” Busch told Orgeron, “we’ll make the College Football Playoffs.”
Coach O’s primary influences, from top, Dennis Erickson, Miami Hurricanes; Pete Carroll, USC Trojans, and Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints. Erickson photo: Jon SooHoo/ USC Athletic Department; Payton photo: Michael C. Hebert/New Orleans Saints
• Orgeron put Busch in charge of the recruitment of Burrow. • Busch, invited Dan Burrow, Joe’s brother, to join the family on the recruiting weekend. He didn’t realize Dan was an LSU fan prior to the visit. • Orgeron introduced Joe Burrow to that Cajun favorite – crawfish. And the rest, as they say, is history.
LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2020
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