As the LSU Tigers head to Houston, Texas, to prepare for the season opener, we find ourselves just days away from the 2021 season. After the 5-5 campaign in a pandemic-shortened season, the team is ready to get the sour taste out of their mouths.
Glenn Guilbeau of Lafayette Daily Advertiser ponders what it will take for Ed Orgeron to avoid the hot seat in 2021?
Historically, LSU football coaches do not often return from back-to-back losing seasons, and a .500 season even during COVID-19 is close enough to a losing season. So would a 7-5 mark this season for the Tigers.
Former coach Les Miles never had a losing season, but he was fired after a 2-2 start in 2016 because of a slip to 8-5 in 2014 and a three-game losing streak late in 2015 that he never quite recovered from.
Orgeron has likely entered the Miles zone with last year’s 3-5 start before the 5-5 finish.
Orgeron himself knows that last season wasn’t acceptable by any stretch of the imagination. It is a huge reason why he replaced coordinators on both sides of the ball ahead of the 2021 season.
Former offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger heads into an analyst role opening up the play-caller spot. Orgeron wanted the offense he ran in 2019 so he brought in two assistants under Joe Brady, who was the passing game coordinator of the national championship team. Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas look to bring the high-flying attack to Tigers Stadium.
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The biggest blunder that put Orgeron on notice had to be the poor handling of losing Dave Aranda to the Baylor Bears. He wasn’t going to prevent Aranda from getting his own team but replacing him with Bo Pelini was less than ideal.
Each year under Pelini in his first stint, the defense allowed more points per game each season. It was the same trend he showed as the head coach of Nebraska before he was shown the door for his “unprofessional behavior” that became a distraction. His defense in 2020 gave up more yards and points per game than the Tigers had seen in 70 years.
Daronte Jones comes from the NFL and is hoping to return the defense to the level they were at before. The talent has never been a question for this team, can Jones put them in positions to succeed is the other question.
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To answer the question of voiding the hot seat, I would set the number at eight regular-season wins and a bowl win. Any record after 2021 that is less than 9-4 could be what puts Orgeron officially on the hot seat.
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