WATCH: Ed Orgeron explains his surprise visit to Notre Dame
Notre Dame had a surprise visitor at practice on Tuesday when former LSU coach Ed Orgeron showed up. Afterward, he met the media and shared why he made the trip to South Bend.
Orgeron visited with his three sons, who are getting into coaching. He wanted to show them campus and he has an existing relationship with Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman. As it turns out, Orgeron wanted to give Freeman a job during his time at LSU.
“I interviewed Marcus at LSU,” Orgeron said. “Really, really respect him. I wanted to come up here, I’ve got three sons coaching. I wanted to show them what Notre Dame was and … this is the first time I get to come in and enjoy being around campus.
“And I’ll tell you what, going into that stadium and having the battles and having great memories. Yesterday, we drove up to the stadium, we went to go see their locker room to the right. I’m used to going to the left. But I enjoy being here. I wanted to see Marcus and the staff, bring my sons up here. We’re here all week. We’re just going to have a good time. Fun to be up here.”
It’s hard not to laugh at the irony, though. Notre Dame’s former head coach, Brian Kelly, replaced Orgeron as LSU’s head coach this offseason. On top of that, Kelly recently spoke about his time at Notre Dame and why he left the program, citing the facilities and how he was on “different paths” with the athletic department’s view for the program. Now, Kelly’s in Baton Rouge and Freeman is the Fighting Irish head coach — his first head coaching job.
As for Orgeron, it doesn’t sound like he plans to coach this coming season after spending the last six years at LSU.