Ed Orgeron didn’t waste any time trying fix his football program.

Less than 48 hours after defending national champion LSU finished a shockingly bad 5-5, the school announced Monday night that it was “mutually” parting ways with first-year defensive coordinator Bo Pelini.

The Advocate reported Monday that safeties Bill Busch also was out and defensive line coach Bill Johnson was retiring.

But those changes were incidental.

If Orgeron was serious about demonstrating that this season was unacceptable and that he was committed to doing everything necessary to restore the program to SEC West contender status immediately, he had to start by firing Pelini – immediately.

Pelini’s contract called for a $5.2 million buyout during a huge drop in revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the school’s announcement Monday night suggested that the financial settlement would be less.

It doesn’t matter – except to LSU’s budget and to Pelini.

Orgeron had to make the move.

A lot of stuff went wrong for the Tigers this season. There were a lot of early and unexpected departures by players that hamstrung Orgeron and his entire staff.

Pelini oversaw a switch from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 defense without having spring practice.

LSU slipped from being a 15-0 national champion to being arguably the worst successor to a national champion in NCAA history.

That didn’t happen because Pelini is a bad coach.

But the enduring images of that free fall all tie back to Pelini and his defense – Mississippi State passing for an SEC-record 623 yards, Missouri, Auburn, Alabama and Ole Miss putting up video-game numbers as well, blown assignments, missed tackles, teammates pointing fingers at one another trying to figure out what went wrong.

Pelini spent his entire season trying to figure out what went wrong. He found a few answers during the final month.

There were fewer mental and physical mistakes. The defense played really well against Texas A&M, got embarrassed against Alabama (but that’s Alabama) and mitigated big-yardage numbers with numerous and crucial takeaways in wins against Florida and Ole Miss.

Orgeron could have given Pelini another year.

He could have cited the absence of traditional spring and summer work to facilitate the transition to the new scheme.

He could have cited the loss of talent to the NFL Draft and later opt-outs, the overall inexperience and lack of depth.

He could have cited the clear though inadequate improvement late in the season.

He could have referenced the fact that as bad as 2020 was, as bad as the 2020 defense was, the last LSU defense that Pelini coached in his first stint in Baton Rouge was the 2007 defense on the 2007 national championship team.

He could have made a case for Pelini coming back, although it wouldn’t have been a very strong case.

It would not have been acceptable to a large segment of the fan base.

It’s fair to assume it’s a case that wouldn’t have been acceptable to the Tigers players.

Ultimately, it wasn’t a case that Orgeron couldn’t make to Orgeron.

It was Orgeron who gushed during the preseason that this defense was already better than the 2019 defense that Dave Aranda coordinated as part of the championship run.

It wasn’t.

It wasn’t close. It was never close even though Aranda’s defense had several bumps in the road before rounding into a championship-caliber defense down the stretch.

Perhaps Pelini could have figured it out and the defense’s performance in 2021 would have justified his retention.

But there was little or no evidence from this season to suggest that was going to happen.

Orgeron couldn’t risk it.

The head coach has a lot of problems on his hands. It’s unlikely that Pelini’s presence was going to be part of the solution.

Perhaps his departure will be.