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LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 14, 2015Ed OrgeronED ORGERON: What a wonderful day. I want to thank Coach Miles and the LSU family for allowing me to be a coach mere. It's a great opportunity for me and my family to come back home and represent the great coaches that have coached before us, the great players. To represent the great State of Louisiana and all the surrounding areas. I look forward to be able to coach these young men, to develop them and to the great defensive lines that we're used to seeing at LSU, and also going out and recruiting the great State of Louisiana. I can't wait to go out tomorrow and recruit with that big LSU on my chest. Man, I just can't wait to do it. I really appreciate Coach Miles. He's been recruiting me for a while. And I knew we were going to end up together. Frank Wilson just had a great recruiting meeting. We're set. I'm looking forward to working with Coach Steele, Corey Raymond, and all the coaches on the staff. I feel like I'm at home. And just what a great tradition. I remember passing across that bridge many a times, wanting to be in that stadium, and I can't wait to be in that stadium and represent the State of Louisiana. Any questions? Q. Coach, I know you've referenced the possibility of coming to LSU as a dream scenario. In what ways, now that you are here, has it come to fruition, a dream come true? ED ORGERON: Well, it's a place I always wanted to coach. You know, you grow up in Louisiana, south Louisiana watching LSU, I watched around the state with my cousins and watched all the great guys that played here, and just to be at Tiger Stadium. I brought Ole Miss down here. I tried to beat Coach Miles; he beat me in overtime. It was a tough game. But it's just a tremendous place to play. I wanted to go test my skills around the country, but I knew when I got older that I wanted to come back home and represent the State of Louisiana. My family lives in Mandeville, and just what a great opportunity for all of us. I'm very appreciative of it. Q. Coach Orgeron, you are known as a recruiter. Kevin just touched on it. It's a group effort, but so often you've been a lead dog. Now it seems you have a pack of dogs. Just what kind of asset would that be for you? And secondly, your coaching style is enthusiasm. It is energy. Do you feel that's something the program can always use regardless of where it's at? ED ORGERON: Everybody has to coach their style and that's the way I am. I've always been a part of a group that supplies some energy. I think the players are going to play the way you're going to coach them, and we're going to play with an exciting style, getting after the quarterback, having fun, being an attacking, aggressive, defensive line. But I learned a long time ago if you want to be a great coach, you get great players. So I'm going out to get me some great players tomorrow. We have some great players here and along with being great recruiters and along with Coach Miles, I just think it's makes us better, and it's a collective effort to get a championship team at LSU. Q. Coach, where does this LSU crop of defensive linemen compare to maybe the talent you've coached in the past? How do you assess what's already on campus? ED ORGERON: Well, it's early. I don't know. I haven't worked with them yet. I know they have a talented group. But I'm here to develop them and get them better, and we'll see. Q. This has been a long process between the end of the season for LSU and this day. Were there a lot of ups and downs for you? Your name has been mentioned several times in this whole process. Emotionally, was there a lot of wondering what is going to happen? ED ORGERON: Well, it's a school I wanted to come to, no doubt. I was waiting for this opportunity. I didn't know if it was going to happen. When it did happen, I took it. They asked me if I could be here at 9:00 o'clock in the morning, and I said, "I'll be there." My clothes were packed and I left this morning. Didn't take me long to get here. Being off for 13 months, you learn a lot about yourself. You learn a lot about the game of football and how much you enjoy it, and how much you enjoy the grind, how much you enjoy the players, and how much you enjoy the recruiting, how much you missed Saturdays, how much you missed Sundays, how much you just miss totally being with a football team and being part of a collective effort. Q. Coach Steele mentioned the text from one of his former players saying, "Coach Orgeron, great hire" and stuff like that. What do you think of the fanfare that you're already getting? People are treating like this like a celebrity hire, like you're a celebrity coming back on the staff. ED ORGERON: Yeah, yeah, I got to produce (laughing). Listen, I came here to represent LSU and be part of a great staff. All I want to be is part of the team. One team, one heartbeat. I realize that the people of Louisiana are excited I'm here. I'm also excited there are some great coaches on this staff. I want to be part of a great team and a great winning effort. Q. Coach, since you were off this year, did you have a chance to observe LSU this year during the season? ED ORGERON: I watched every game, cheered every play, especially when they beat Ole Miss (laughter). Thank you, Coach. Q. How different a guy or coach are you now than you were a long time ago at Ole Miss as a head coach? ED ORGERON: I mentioned it before, I went to Ole Miss as a defensive line coach and coached those guys the way I coached Warren Sapp and Cortez Kennedy, and it kind of doesn't work when you approach a quarterback and a wide receiver in the same manner. So I had five years to think about it. Really I looked at myself and how I needed a change. Those eight weeks that we had at the University of Southern California, that is the coach I became, a more mature coach. I found out the first thing you've got to do is let your players know you care about 'em. I said I'm going to treat my players like my sons. We're going to be one heartbeat, one family, and the success that we have shows the type of coach I want to be. But I'm here to be a defensive line coach, going back to aggressive style and enthusiastic style and getting my guys ready to play. My greatest gift as an assistant coach is to get my guys to perform on Saturday, get them to go to class and do a great job of recruiting for Coach Miles. Q. What's that say about Les to get guys that are former head coaches, guys that have been in the league, whether it be Cam or you or Kevin? ED ORGERON: Well, you know, having been a head coach, you know what you want out of your assistants. When you come back and be an assistant, you feel that you can do the things that the head coach wants you to do without him talking about it. I think coach has a very, very strong staff here, and I'm here to represent Coach Miles and his staff in the best way I can. Q. Coach, in‑game responsibilities been set yet? Would Coach Steele be up in the box and you down on the field? Has that been discussed? ED ORGERON: No, we haven't discussed that yet, but hopefully I'm down on the field with enthusiasm and cheering the guys on. That's what I've been a part of. You've got to be there with the defensive linemen every play, getting them riled up, getting them after the quarterback. So I have a good feeling that's where I'm going to be, and hopefully that's what I can do the best. Q. Coach, it's been said about you you're not afraid to go anywhere to get any player. Can you talk about just your attitude in recruiting guys and just going anywhere to bring any guy into town? ED ORGERON: You've just got to go in there with confidence, and you've got to believe in what you're representing. I believe in LSU and I believe in the great system that they have here. I'll be excited, and it comes from the heart. I'm not a big text guy, a big social media guy. But I go in there and find out who is the decision maker, get to know them and represent LSU, and being a good listener. I think being a recruiter is being a good listener. If you listen well enough, they're going to tell you what they want, and you deliver that. One of the things here about LSU is you are going to get a great education. You are going to play in the SEC, play great football. Get a chance to be an NFL player, first round draft pick and get developed. The biggest thing is you can recruit five stars, four stars and three stars, it doesn't matter how you get there. Once you get to campus, we have to develop them and be great players. I've had a chance to recruit several great defensive linemen. Not one has stepped off the bus, tore his shirt off with an "S" on his chest and started playing. It just doesn't happen that way. So I'm looking forward to developing these great players. Q. You've coached with Frank Wilson a couple times before and both of you are kind of considered cream of the crop when it comes to assistant recruiters. What have you talked about in terms of being together in Louisiana, like you said with LSU polo on? ED ORGERON: Let me tell you, I went through a two‑hour meeting with Frank Wilson, that's the best recruiting meeting I've ever seen. Detailed, orientated, very knowledgeable. I tried myself to come to Louisiana and beat Frank on three guys; there was no way it was going to happen. He's a tremendous competitor. He gets the champion. He's got a great smile about him, a great presence about him and he's relentless. And he loves LSU, so I'm just looking forward to being part of him and working with him. I'm proud to say that he and I are very close. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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