LSU head coach Ed Orgeron began career on Miami football staff

Orgeron and future FBS head coach

Tommy Tuberville

were graduate assistants. Tuberville was in his third year. Tuberville like Orgeron had his first head coaching job at Mississippi and was also the head coach at Auburn, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. He is now an analyst for ABC.

David Hale of ESPN spoke to Tuberville and summed them up.

"“Tommy Tuberville, former Miami (Fla.) assistant coach Jimmy Johnson hired Orgeron at Miami, despite a lack of on-field coaching experience, but he loved the guy’s energy. What quickly became clear, however, was that Orgeron’s energy was matched by his acumen on the defensive line. He simply loved coaching technique Tuberville and Orgeron were both young and single at the time, so they’d vacation together, and inevitably, talk would turn to football, and from there — well, it could get heated. “We’d be at dinner in some restaurant in Key West, and he’d get down in a three-point stance to explain some technique…In hotel rooms in Costa Rica, he’s going all-out.” Tuberville said the attention to detail carried over to the practice fields, where Orgeron would often line up against his own D-linemen — Russell Maryland, Warren Sapp, The Rock — and run drills without any pads or protection. He’d come away bruised and bloodied. Orgeron’s legendary energy is a popular topic, too, with Tommy Tuberville remembering how they used to pack coffee grounds under their lips like chewing tobacco to stay caffeinated during Miami’s hectic practices."

Some of the other names on that 1988 staff include future Miami head coach Butch Davis, long-time Hurricanes offensive line coach Art Kehoe, University of Miami Sports Hall of Famer Don Soldinger and long-time NFL offensive line coach Tony Wise who left with Johnson to go to the Cowboys after the season.

When Erickson was hired to succeed Johnson, Orgeron was elevated to defensive line coach and Tuberville to linebackers coach. Under future Colorado State head coach Sonny Lubick, Orgeron and Tuberville helped lead Miami to their third national championship in seven seasons, defeating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

In many ways, this season has seen Orgeron’s career come full circle. LSU defeated Alabama earlier this season and now 30 years later will try to win his first national championship as a head coach in the Superdome on Monday night. Orgeron was also on USC’s staff, primarily under Pete Carroll from 1998-2004.

Carroll ironically became the head coach at USC after Erickson turned them down to accept a contract extension at Oregon State. In Orgeron’s final two seasons in Los Angeles before accepting the head coaching job at Ole’ Miss the Trojans won national championships. Orgeron wound up back at USC from 2010-13.