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Real Reason Ed Orgeron Is Leaving LSU Revealed

Real Reason Ed Orgeron Is Leaving LSU Revealed

Ed Orgeron and LSU reached a separation agreement this week that ensures he will not return in 2022.

The unprecedented decision comes on the heels of LSU’s surprisingly impressive 49-42 victory over Florida on Saturday and despite Orgeron being just 21 months removed from winning a National Championship.

Although negotiations began prior to this weekend’s big win, they were ultimately unaffected by it.

In the end, both sides reached an agreement that they deemed acceptable.

Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, who broke the story, did also confirm that Orgeron was “expected to complete this season.”

So why did this happen? According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports, Orgeron had somehow turned off everyone he worked with.

“It’s one of those things where no one wanted to be there anymore,” he wrote. “The players didn’t want to play for him, the coaches didn’t want to coach for him.”

The problems didn’t stop there, though. Orgeron’s overall way of carrying himself had grown deeply problematic. This from Brody Miller of The Athletic is particularly telling:

Real Reason Ed Orgeron Is Leaving LSU Revealed 1 Real Reason Ed Orgeron Is Leaving LSU Revealed 2

“A strained relationship between coach & administration – rooted in team management [and] public/private behavior – has warped into an untenable situation, distrust [and] outbursts,” Dellenger added.

Orgeron was the hottest name in college football just two years ago, when his all-star lineup of Joe Burrow, Jamarr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Patrick Queen dominated the field en route to a title.

Unfortunately, failures both on and off the field quickly followed.

Orgeron went 5-5 last year and was involved in an extremely embarrassing leaked photo scandal with a young woman.

Since winning that championship, LSU has put together a 9-8 mark that saw them go 2-3 against Power Five opponents this year.

Overall this season the Tigers were 4-3 on the year, with no viable path to any sort of legitimate contention any time soon. Yes, two of those losses came to a pair of solid teams in Alabama and Kentucky. But even though they were understandable, they only further accentuated the divide that currently exists in the SEC between the conference’s elite and LSU.

Obviously there were some extenuating circumstances when it comes to LSU’s struggles this year – namely injuries. Myles Brennan’s summer surprise was rough. But the fact that both coaches and players had grown weary of Orgeron’s ways is telling. Clearly a divorce was inevitable.

Where do all parties involved go from here? It’s impossible to predict LSU’s next move. They have a big coaching search ahead of them.

As for Orgeron, though – the path forward is much clearer. There is one clear opening that he would be perfect for, though time will tell if his stock is too low right now for that union to happen.

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Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.

2 Comments

  1. Why would anyone want to coach at LSU? If they run off a guy who won a national championship and graduated enough talent to turn around perennial NFL losers, how is anyone supposed to please them?

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