Ed Orgeron landed his dream job when LSU lifted the interim tag off of him and made the Louisiana native its fulltime head coach following the 2016 season.

Life is never easy for someone who has to annually match wits in the rugged SEC West with Nick Saban, who has established himself as the standard program-builder in the country. But LSU administrators, alums and fans should give Orgeron time to settle in to the gig and have a chance to show them that he is the right man to lead the Tigers for the foreseeable future.

The biggest failing of Orgeron’s predecessor, Les Miles, was his inability to evolve his offensive philosophy. Ed O, however, was able to woo Matt Canada from Pittsburgh to Baton Rouge during the offseason. Canada will bring a fresh perspective and a more diversified approach than Miles and former OC Cam Cameron. Canada’s offense will employ a deep use of offensive personnel, with plenty of shifting and motion to keep defenses guessing. It should also be a balanced unit — one that is not too conservative, one that is open to taking chances.

While Derrius Guice will have plenty of chances to match or exceed his 1,387 rushing yards and 7.6 yards per carry from last season, the fate of the Tigers still rests on the shoulders of quarterback Danny Etling.

The former Purdue transfer returns as the starter looking to close out his collegiate career with a strong final campaign and in much better health. The Indiana native had surgery in late April after playing through lower back issues at times during his 10 starts last season as well as in spring practice this year. It had been a recurring issue going back to his time with the Boilermakers. The hope is that improved health will lead to stronger play this fall.

While Etling is the team’s No. 1 question mark with preseason practice on the horizon, he did show glimpses of strong play last year. He completed 63 percent of his throws for 541 yards and four touchdowns against just one interception in the team’s final two games, which were wins over ranked foes Texas A&M and Louisville.

However, many LSU fans still recall his struggles in the 10-0 loss to Alabama, in which he completed 11 of 24 passes for 92 yards with an interception and five sacks. Of course, he was facing the best defense in America. However, expectations at LSU will always remain very high.

And while Etling finished a very respectable 53rd nationally in passing efficiency (135.6), improved play is expected under an OC who was a finalist for the Broyles Award — the annual honor as college football’s top assistant coach — last season. Just recall how well Nathan Peterman played against Clemson in Pitt’s upset win over the Tigers last season. That came in an offense coordinated by Canada.

Etling is expected to arrive in camp near 100 percent and is the established No. 1, with sophomore Justin McMillan at No. 2 and true freshmen Lowell Narcisse and Myles Brennan in reserve.

The latter two signal callers represent hope for a bright future. They also should be the reason for patience when it comes to Orgeron, who guided the Tigers to a 5-2 mark over the final two months of the 2016 regular season.

If Etling struggles and the Bayou Bengals are ultimately not West Division contenders, it should not be an indictment of Orgeron. After all, the longtime Southern Cal assistant’s hands are tied when it comes to the quarterback position. We have seen the fates of many head coaches defined by extended poor quarterback play (see: Muschamp, Will), so Orgeron deserves time even in an increasingly win-now college football landscape.

Canada’s offensive track record should enthuse anyone around Baton Rouge, and Etling is expected to be 100 percent healthy. But the Tigers have a couple of dynamic signal callers waiting in the wings with the dual-threat Narcisse and the pro-style Brennan. If Etling gets injured or is ineffective, Tigers fans may see a youth movement under center. While that might affect the team in the 2017 standings, those reps could be invaluable beyond this season.

No matter how things unfold this fall, Orgeron deserves time to oversee Canada and the offensive staff. Just as we saw the Tigers open things up offensively from the time Orgeron assumed the job from Miles last season, expect the unit to be anything but predictable and vanilla as it was too often under the old regime.

The Tigers will be heavily dependent upon a more explosive offense to help out defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, whose unit lost several starters from 2016. Aranda is certainly one of the brightest defensive minds in the game, but his defense can’t win games by itself. There are also questions about the health of All-America edge rusher Arden Key.

If, ultimately over time, the development of the younger signal callers stalls as was the case under Miles, then fans can start panicking as to whether Ed O is the right coach to lead the Tigers as they try to wrest the West from Saban and Co. Until then, though, the former Ole Miss head coach — who has a strong coaching staff in place and has maintained that he learned a lot from his 10-25 stint with the Rebels — deserves the full backing of everyone associate with LSU.

Miles was let go in part because of too many underwhelming performances offensively and not enough SEC West crowns. But not many head coaches are consistently beating Nick Saban year in and year out. If offensive progress continues to be made and they are a competitive outfit this season, the Tigers have quality young depth under center and a proven OC to complement what is annually one of the league’s best defenses. That sets up for a bright future.

A solid year from Etling should propel the Tigers to a successful 2017 campaign. But if there are rocky moments, panic shouldn’t set in. Orgeron has pushed the right buttons since taking over the program, so he deserves patience to distance himself from the Miles era and put his own stamp on LSU football.