This season, Orgeron helped coach a team to beat Syracuse. Now he's interested in leading the Orange to victory.
Now that we know Scott Shafer will not be the head coach of the Syracuse Orange in 2016, we turn to the obvious question: Who WILL?
Names are being bandied about haphazardly by everyone. Some of the names make sense, some are longshots and some are just the ravings of crazy people (Anyone actually suggesting Les Miles).
We'll start vetting the options soon enough (and perhaps see a return of the Sexy-O-Meter). In the meantime, we'll have to keep our eyes and ears open as we try to figure out who's interested.
One person we know is interested in having a conversation is Ed Orgeron. Currently the defensive line coach for the LSU Tigers, Orgeron was the DL coach for Syracuse between 1995 and 1997. In speaking with Bud Poliquin, the former SU coach says he'd love to be in consideration for a return.
"First of all, my days at Syracuse were fantastic," Orgeron said during a telephone conversation. "I learned a lot under Coach (Paul) Pasqualoni. I know Coach (Dick) MacPherson and a lot of ex-players and a lot of players who are there now.
"I have a lot of respect for Syracuse. Great private school, great education, great tradition. So, obviously, my interest would be very high. I'd be highly interested in getting that job. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to go back there."
Orgeron has a reputation for being an outstanding recruiter and player's coach. Hindsight says he probably should have been named head coach of the USC Trojans a few years back instead of Steve Sarkisian. His head coaching stint at Ole Miss was pretty similar record-wise to what Shafer has done (10-25 in 3 years), so he'd probably have to make one heck of a case as to why this time would be different.
Plus, his name kinda sounds like "orange," so that's a big plus.
A hire like Orgeron would certainly make waves and put Syracuse on a different kind of map. However it still all comes down to wins and losses and you'd have to figure that even if he did succeed here, he'd probably be gone as soon as a better offer came along.
But it's early days yet in SU Coaching SearchWatch 2016. We'll see who else enters the mix.
