Ed Orgeron reaffirms he is ready to return to coaching football: 'I'm ready to coach again'

The last time Ed Orgeron was in coaching was back in 2021, but now he wants to get back into it. He’s just looking for the right opportunity.

While speaking to Jacques Doucet of WAFB-TV at the Patrick Queen Stadium ceremony on Wednesday night, Orgeron confirmed he’s ready to coach again. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a head coaching opportunity either. He just wants a situation that’s right for him and available.

“All depends what the best thing available is,” Orgeron said. “But I’m ready to coach again. I left a little bit of meat on the bone. I’m ready to go.”

Today, Orgeron is best known for his time as the head coach at LSU. There, in 2019, he coached Joe Burrow and company to a 15-0 national championship season. That team is remembered as one of the greatest teams, and in particular, the greatest offenses that college football has ever seen. That success and national championship run is something that Orgeron has recently looked back on.

“I felt like we were kings of the country,” Orgeron said in August on Pardon My Take. “Everybody loved us and a lot of people were supporting us. The next day, I saw you guys (Pardon My Take crew) and I was the one that went to bed a little bit early. We had a press conference and you know we’re going home. I was raised out in the Bayou, where people caught shrimp for a living. Great people.”

Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Orgeron would see his LSU team stumble from those heights, and he put up back-to-back .500 finishes. That would end his tenure there in Baton Rouge. He finished with a record of 51-20 there and 31-17 in SEC play.

A Louisiana native, Orgeron began his coaching career in 1984 as a GA at Northwestern State, his alma mater. From there, he’d work his way up as a defensive assistant, primarily acting as a defensive line or linebackers coach. He would then parlay into being the head coach at Ole Miss from 2005 to 2007. That was a difficult tenure, and saw Orgeron go just 10-25 and 3-21 in SEC play. Later, he would also have a stint as the interim head coach at USC, going 6-2 there. That would be as a replacement for Lane Kiffin.

The coaching carousel in college football is already in full swing. October has only just started and there are already four Power Four jobs, one from every conference, open. Others are expected to open at other points during the season, too. Those teams have the chance to now openly look for their next head coach and Ed Orgeron, with his extensive resume, wants to be a part of that conversation.