In a press conference on Tuesday, LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron made a comment about the hiring of new Defensive coordinator Daronte Jones.
“Daronte was like the fourth or fifth choice, but who cares? So was I.”
LSU hired Jones back in January, after a long- drawn-out coaching search, making it pretty evident that the former Minnesota Vikings assistant coach wasn’t the Tiger’s top choice.
Bo Pelini was the former DC who was brought on during the 2020 season, but left after just one season of very minimal success. Thus, the search for a new DC began.
In the first few months of the hiring process it looked as though LSU was leaning towards former Cincinnati defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. However, he ultimately took the DC position at Notre Dame.
They then turned their attention to former New Orleans Saints linebackers coach Ryan Nielson, but came up short again when Nielson accepted a promotion under Sean Payton as assistant head coach.
The third choice came and went, and the Tigers ultimately landed Daronte Jones.
Coach O’s hiring experience was similar, in the fact that he was pretty far down the list in priority as well.
In 2016, Coach O took over as interim coach following the firing of former Head Coach Les Miles. During his first season, Orgeron led the Tigers to a 5-2 finish.
Coach Orgeron had always dreamed of being a head coach at LSU, but despite his successes in his interim position, LSU still checked out plenty of options before him.
When none of those options lined up, Coach Ed Orgeron was called to battle, and since then Tiger nation has never looked back.
Coach Orgeron is now seen as a figurehead in all of greater Louisiana, and a Baton Rouge hero. That’s a Geaux Tigers.