Ed Orgeron regrets following Lane Kiffin to Tennessee in 2009
One storyline we’ll be hearing a lot about in the next two weeks is the friendship between LSU interim head coach Ed Orgeron and Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.
The two have coached together at various spots over the years dating back to 2001, when both were on the Southern Cal staff. When Kiffin got the head coaching job at Tennessee in 2009, he wanted Orgeron as one of his assistants.
It turns out Orgeron had another very attractive job opportunity: LSU.
“I thought about reneging on the Tennessee deal. I left earlier in the morning and when I landed on the tarmac in Tennessee, I got an (LSU) offer that was kind of hard to refuse,” Orgeron told The Advocate’s Ross Dellenger. “The reason I had gone to Tennessee is because Lane and I were good friends, and I wanted to coach under Monte Kiffin’s defense.”
The Kiffins would only coach in Knoxville for one season before Lane would take the USC job. Orgeron regrets not joining Miles’ staff instead.
“Every day,” Orgeron said.
Wish he would have
This says a lot more about Kiffin than it does UT. Orgeron isn’t saying he regrets picking UT over LSU; he’s saying he regrets picking Kiffin over Miles. He’s not wrong.
Yeah I think he’s still mad at babyface for leaving like that, not at Tennessee itself.
agree with both of you
He and Kiffin are considered friends, and I’m sure he thought they would all 3 be in Knoxville for years. Orgeron and the other coaching staff was probably just as shocked as the rest of Vol Nation was, if not more when Kiffin decided to jump ship. I wish he(Orgeron) would have been at LSU in 2009. However, he would have missed some valuable head coaching experience if he had not gone to USC.
Well he only got the HC experience at USC because Kiffin turned out to be terrible there. If Kiffin had taken the same sort of turn at Tennessee (had he stayed), I’m sure that Orgeron would have been named interim HC all the same, if things had worked out the same. After all, Orgeron did at least have some HC experience. Glad he’s getting a shot now. I hope he gets the LSU job. He’s changed the culture of the team down there. I think he makes a great fit. Now go beat Bama.
He’s probably just saying what he has to say at LSU.
He’s separating himself from the O-Coord at Alabama, and since LSU & Alabama have been two of the top dogs in the SEC-West, that always plays well with the LSU crowd. He’s also the politicking for the full-time LSU job.
Listening to all of the local talk shows, Orgeron has publicly stated he would take less money if he is hired as the HC, so he could hire (or keep) the best coordinators in football. Some people close to the LSU program have stated that Orgeron would “Do everything in his power to bring Kiffin to Baton Rouge.” Hmmm… That is of course assuming that Kiffin is not an HC.
Interesting… They also went on to say that Kiffin wants out of Tuscaloosa. These comments came from people that are close to the LSU program. I could see Kiffin leaving ‘Bama, but would he leave to take another OC job? I know Kiffin and Orgeron are still close. I just don’t know.
No one knows. Everyone always claims to know some scoop. Its a premier job so Im curious to see which direction Lsu goes.