I'll Hand it to Eddy O

[ShotgunDawg]

Perhaps this is premature, but I gotta admit, Eddy O hasn't run LSU into the ground like I thought he would. I was so sure that he was a terrible hire when they hired him, but I think at very least we can say that opinion was wrong.

So... I started thinking, Eddy O isn't a good coach, so what has allowed him to be successful?

Is Eddy O a better head coach than Mullen?

- First off Eddy O is a good motivator. I think the players like him & play hard for him.

- Secondly & what I think may be his greatest strength is that he seems to be egoless about who LSU employees on his staff. While Mullen may be an excellent Xs & Os guy, he holds himself back because he refuses to upgrade his staff from the Country Club clowns. Meanwhile, Orgeron has no issue with Aranda, Emsminger is his guy, but he didn't even have an issue with Joe Brady coming in & revamping the offense.

If I had to put my finger on LSU's organizational strength right now, it seems that there isn't a ton of stubbornness in believing it's "my way of the highway" & there is a willingness to adjust.

I don't think Eddy O can beat Saban, but he's been better than I thought & I think you can point directly to his willingness to adjust & hire people that are smarter than him as to the reason why.

Just a thought

[msstate7]

Nothing supports him being better than Mullen so far. Mullen is 2-0 vs him, 64-26 is the combined score. Now O might get Mullen this year.

[ShotgunDawg]

Nothing supports him being better than Mullen so far. Mullen is 2-0 vs him, 64-26 is the combined score. Now O might get Mullen this year.

That may be true, but I'd argue they are closer than you think. They just do it in completely different ways.

What I'm fascinated about with Orgeron is what happens when the coaching staff starts to get poached?

You have to believe that Aranda & Joe Brady will be offered better jobs in the near future

[Coursesuper]

That may be true, but I'd argue they are closer than you think. They just do it in completely different ways.

What I'm fascinated about with Orgeron is what happens when the coaching staff starts to get poached?

You have to believe that Aranda & Joe Brady will be offered better jobs in the near future

LSU has money to burn as far as football is concerned and they aren't afraid to spend it so they will not lose an asst. to many other schools. O has figured out how to get out of the way and let his coaches coach. Say what you will but in LA he will be able to get just about any recruit he wants and recruiting is that guys strength anyway. The speed on that defense this year is scary.

[StateDawg44]

Perhaps this is premature, but I gotta admit, Eddy O hasn't run LSU into the ground like I thought he would. I was so sure that he was a terrible hire when they hired him, but I think at very least we can say that opinion was wrong.

So... I started thinking, Eddy O isn't a good coach, so what has allowed him to be successful?

Is Eddy O a better head coach than Mullen?

- First off Eddy O is a good motivator. I think the players like him & play hard for him.

- Secondly & what I think may be his greatest strength is that he seems to be egoless about who LSU employees on his staff. While Mullen may be an excellent Xs & Os guy, he holds himself back because he refuses to upgrade his staff from the Country Club clowns. Meanwhile, Orgeron has no issue with Aranda, Emsminger is his guy, but he didn't even have an issue with Joe Brady coming in & revamping the offense.

If I had to put my finger on LSU's organizational strength right now, it seems that there isn't a ton of stubbornness in believing it's "my way of the highway" & there is a willingness to adjust.

I don't think Eddy O can beat Saban, but he's been better than I thought & I think you can point directly to his willingness to adjust & hire people that are smarter than him as to the reason why.

Just a thought

Or he realized he had no clue what he was doing and had to ask for help. Very admirable I guess and shows he can be humble but that doesn't scream great coach IMO. But it has worked so far so kudos to him I guess.

[ShotgunDawg]

Or he realized he had no clue what he was doing and had to ask for help. Very admirable I guess and shows he can be humble but that doesn't scream great coach IMO. But it has worked so far so kudos to him I guess.

I don't think he's a great coach at all. I just think he may have finally realized that.

If Les Miles would've realized that he wasn't a great coach & just hired people smarter than himself, he's probably still be there.

[Tbonewannabe]

Or he realized he had no clue what he was doing and had to ask for help. Very admirable I guess and shows he can be humble but that doesn't scream great coach IMO. But it has worked so far so kudos to him I guess.

If you are the smartest guy in the room then you are in the wrong room. If Coach O realized his strength is motivating and getting guys to run the O and D then as long as he hires well, he will be successful. Mullen's biggest issue was he always thought he was the smartest guy in the room and until Grantham, wanted his D Coordinator to bow to him even if he was wrong. From Collins success on D, if Mullen gets out of his way then we might have won the SEC in 2014. Mullen had to have the 1A, 1B bullshit and tied Collins hands then got mad because it wasn't successful.

[Tbonewannabe]

I don't think he's a great coach at all. I just think he may have finally realized that.

If Les Miles would've realized that he wasn't a great coach & just hired people smarter than himself, he's probably still be there.

Does anyone think Saban is a genius on Offense? Saban is smart enough to hire someone to run the O. He even showed he was willing to change since he is now running a spread offense. Les refused to change and that is what bit him in the ass.

[Captain Falcon]

One thing that I don't think can be argued is that Coach O is clearly a better coach now than he was 12 years ago in Oxford. I'm still not sold on him being that great of a coach, and frankly Les Miles might still be better, but he's clearly not the train wreck he was at Ole Miss. As others have said, he seems to have done a good job of realizing his strengths and weaknesses. So many coaches are too stubborn to look in the mirror and realize that their way isn't working.

I was the first one to criticize LSU for hiring him, and I felt even stronger in my beliefs about him after we crushed them and they lost to Troy two years ago. But since then he's actually done a really, really good job.

[StateDawg44]

I don't think he's a great coach at all. I just think he may have finally realized that.

If Les Miles would've realized that he wasn't a great coach & just hired people smarter than himself, he's probably still be there.

Definitely true.

Usually, the only thing standing in LSU's way is LSU. They don't deserve many excuses.

[Jack Lambert]

He always been able to recruit. He will have talent but that still doesn,t make him a good coach.

[sonofozarka]

Perhaps this is premature, but I gotta admit, Eddy O hasn't run LSU into the ground like I thought he would. I was so sure that he was a terrible hire when they hired him, but I think at very least we can say that opinion was wrong.

So... I started thinking, Eddy O isn't a good coach, so what has allowed him to be successful?

Is Eddy O a better head coach than Mullen?

- First off Eddy O is a good motivator. I think the players like him & play hard for him.

- Secondly & what I think may be his greatest strength is that he seems to be egoless about who LSU employees on his staff. While Mullen may be an excellent Xs & Os guy, he holds himself back because he refuses to upgrade his staff from the Country Club clowns. Meanwhile, Orgeron has no issue with Aranda, Emsminger is his guy, but he didn't even have an issue with Joe Brady coming in & revamping the offense.

If I had to put my finger on LSU's organizational strength right now, it seems that there isn't a ton of stubbornness in believing it's "my way of the highway" & there is a willingness to adjust.

I don't think Eddy O can beat Saban, but he's been better than I thought & I think you can point directly to his willingness to adjust & hire people that are smarter than him as to the reason why.

Just a thought
Good post, I've thought about this same thing.

I still think he's average at best, but you hit on some good points, with the main one being that he's humbled his ego to completely stay out of Aranda's way, and to try and provide support for the OC (that he believes in b/c it was "his" guy) instead of meddling like he did with Matt Canada (which completely sabotaged that offense).

But I think the main thing that makes it hard for him to fail is that they get such GREAT support from their admin. They'll do whatever it takes to keep Aranda (2.5 mill, highest paid asst in the country and top 4 in total coaching staff pay) and they coordinate a "recruiting machine" that goes all the way to getting hospitals & politicians involved to help keep in state recruits.

His strengths are important for a HC, he's a relentless recruiter and understands it's importance, he's a good talent evaluator, a good motivator, and likes for practices to be physical.
I don't know how good he is at evaluating and luring great new assistants if he has to though, so if they lose Aranda, which they DESPERATELY don't want to do, they may be in trouble

Even still though, the last 3 years of LSU football has been 4 losses, 4 losses, and 3 losses. For the talent they have, is that really that great?

[Randolph Dupree]

look, I was as impressed by LSU as anyone. I didn't see it coming but let's put the win in perspective before we go heaping too much praise. First off it was against Texas which hasn't had overwhelming success the last several years so who knows how good they really are. Secondly, LSU put up a lot of points on a Big 12 school; who doesn't? Also, I didn't watch the entire game so LSU May have left some points on the field but I know Texas should've had another TD in the first half, there is no excuse for a RB to drop that pass. The RB catches that pass and who knows how the game goes from there. Lastly, Texas moves the ball pretty well against the LSU defense.

Bottom line is we will see how LSU finishes.

All of that being said I think us and Auburn are playing for third in the west.

[Really Clark?]

If you are the smartest guy in the room then you are in the wrong room. If Coach O realized his strength is motivating and getting guys to run the O and D then as long as he hires well, he will be successful. Mullen's biggest issue was he always thought he was the smartest guy in the room and until Grantham, wanted his D Coordinator to bow to him even if he was wrong. From Collins success on D, if Mullen gets out of his way then we might have won the SEC in 2014. Mullen had to have the 1A, 1B bullshit and tied Collins hands then got mad because it wasn't successful.

Mullen didn’t come up with the 1A/1B defense. The staff did with Collins

[msu15]

I’ve always wanted him to find his way to Starkville in some capacity. No one will ever convince me that he shouldn’t have gotten a fourth year at Ole Miss. 2007 was his first year with a full allotment of scholarships, had a young team, and lost a bunch of close games. I knew Nutt’s 2008 run was coming.

[Tbonewannabe]

Mullen didn’t come up with the 1A/1B defense. The staff did with Collins

Weird that Collins had never done it before and hasn't done it since but maybe he experimented with it and it didn't work well. I will say that Mullen definitely pushed for a more bend don't break defense up until Grantham.

[bobtail bob]

They are paying players and pretty openly too. The family of that running back they signed from Destrehan suddenly has a new cars in the driveway and their home is being renovated but Sankey and friends don't really care about that

[Really Clark?]

Weird that Collins had never done it before and hasn't done it since but maybe he experimented with it and it didn't work well. I will say that Mullen definitely pushed for a more bend don't break defense up until Grantham.

Because the offense had been increasing tempo the prior year, it also meant a lot more snaps for the defense. The staff was trying to find a way to offset the extra snaps. The 1A/B was what they came up with, Collins included. We had depth but just not enough at every position to really make it work like they envisioned.

The defense Collins ran was what Diaz had already developed his first time. It was never Mullen’s defense. Diaz even talked about how the playbook hadn’t changed much when he came back the second time. The actual change was when Sirmon came aboard not Grantham. But obviously that failed and then Grantham brought his scheme in

[Cooterpoot]

Well, they should be on probation but the NCAA isn’t hitting a big program and LSU didn’t offer up penalties.

[smootness]

Weird that Collins had never done it before and hasn't done it since but maybe he experimented with it and it didn't work well. I will say that Mullen definitely pushed for a more bend don't break defense up until Grantham.

Collins is doing a far more extreme version of this at GT this year with his 'above the line' system instead of any kind of depth chart.

[turkish]

Imagine Ole Miss with less shame, 10x more money to give out, and no in-state rival to worry about hiding from. Now give them more in-state talent. I’m shocked Miles did as poorly as he did.

[Skydawg1]

Or he realized he had no clue what he was doing and had to ask for help. Very admirable I guess and shows he can be humble but that doesn't scream great coach IMO. But it has worked so far so kudos to him I guess.This is most likely the case. When he was at Ole Miss, I heard he was burning up Pete Carroll's phone all day long.

[Lance Harbor]

Yep, Ricky Bobby could have coached what would have been Orgeron's 4th year and won 9 games. Luckily the UM admin has been driving the short bus for the last 40 years.


I?ve always wanted him to find his way to Starkville in some capacity. No one will ever convince me that he shouldn?t have gotten a fourth year at Ole Miss. 2007 was his first year with a full allotment of scholarships, had a young team, and lost a bunch of close games. I knew Nutt?s 2008 run was coming.

[parabrave]

They are paying players and pretty openly too. The family of that running back they signed from Destrehan suddenly has a new cars in the driveway and their home is being renovated but Sankey and friends don't really care about that

Well that money came from some hospital foundation fund so I guess it was legal since the ncaa hasn't done anything yet to prove otherwise. Time to get the Starkville urgent care center foundation started.

[Apoplectic]

Perhaps this is premature, but I gotta admit, Eddy O hasn't run LSU into the ground like I thought he would. I was so sure that he was a terrible hire when they hired him, but I think at very least we can say that opinion was wrong.

So... I started thinking, Eddy O isn't a good coach, so what has allowed him to be successful?

Is Eddy O a better head coach than Mullen?

- First off Eddy O is a good motivator. I think the players like him & play hard for him.

- Secondly & what I think may be his greatest strength is that he seems to be egoless about who LSU employees on his staff. While Mullen may be an excellent Xs & Os guy, he holds himself back because he refuses to upgrade his staff from the Country Club clowns. Meanwhile, Orgeron has no issue with Aranda, Emsminger is his guy, but he didn't even have an issue with Joe Brady coming in & revamping the offense.

If I had to put my finger on LSU's organizational strength right now, it seems that there isn't a ton of stubbornness in believing it's "my way of the highway" & there is a willingness to adjust.

I don't think Eddy O can beat Saban, but he's been better than I thought & I think you can point directly to his willingness to adjust & hire people that are smarter than him as to the reason why.

Just a thought

the way the national media dog whistles him about his culture, language, and history is RACIST. If they talked about a black coach like this it would be a national story

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Imagine Ole Miss with less shame, 10x more money to give out, and no in-state rival to worry about hiding from. Now give them more in-state talent. I’m shocked Miles did as poorly as he did.

I agree, LSU is arguably in the best situation in the country right there with UGA. UGA has a better college town but also closer competition. UGA has Florida next door but LSU has Texas. They're the best 2 jobs in America, and with the NCAA pretending they can't see the obvious $$$ being thrown around they can recruit shamelessly with very little competition. For example if a recruits' mom needs a new car, LSU can have bag men there literally that day coordinating with dealerships that are down with that. No other team has that kind of network in the state, and it gives them a massive leg up relative to any Texas or Alabama or Florida team.