a southern miss. fan found this in the b-ham paper :D :D
Ole Miss, Orgeron primed for a big flop
Easy Writer by SCOTT ADAMSON
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD
Fans are already speculating about which new SEC coach will be the most effective once they strap on the pads next fall.
Steve Spurrier certainly has the pedigree and the rep, and few would be surprised if he guided South Carolina to eight victories.
Urban Meyer is a quality coach with a bushel-basket full of talent at Florida, and could easily lead the Gators to an SEC Championship right out of the box.
Les Miles did a good job at Oklahoma State, and there's no reason to believe he won't do the same as Nick Saban's replacement at LSU.
Which leaves us with the fourth new head coach to grace the SEC — Ed Orgeron of Ole Miss.
Going out on a sturdy limb here, I'm guessing Orgeron will be the least successful of the whole group.
In fact, I think the Orgeron Era at Ole Miss will be over quicker than you can say, "What in the world were they thinking?"
As you know, the Rebels fired David Cutcliffe following their "Life After Eli" campaign. When they pulled the plug on the Birmingham native, school officials announced they were going after an established head coach.
Instead they got Orgeron, a defensive line coach at Miami and USC. Not only does Orgeron have zero head coaching credits, he's carrying around more baggage than a bellhop at a Benny Hinnconvention.
Not to drag up the past, but ...
Orgeron was arrested twice in the early 1990s for being involved in bar fights, and a restraining order was filed against him in 1991 by a Miami woman who complained of being physically abused by Orgeron. Those instances cost him his job with the Hurricanes, and it appeared his career in college football was done.
Nope. Orgeron supposedly turned his life around, starting over at Nicholls State University, then moving on to Syracuse before landing at Southern California, where he was part of two national championship seasons.
Fans seemed to be happy to get Orgeron last December, giving him the benefit of the doubt when it came to his checkered past. But although he is talking tough about discipline and doing things right in Oxford, he's hardly off to a good start.
Linebackers coach Charlie Camp resigned Jan. 29, the day after he was arrested in Oxford and charged with DUI. On March 3, defensive line coach Joe Cullen was arrested and charged with public drunkenness.
Cullen filed a $434,000 wrongful termination suit against the university, and a day later defensive tackle McKinley Boykin was arrested on a domestic violence charge. Boykin is one of three players who have criminal cases pending, and he is one of at least nine Rebel players or coaches who have been arrested in the past 18 months.
All that's bad enough, but here's what Orgeron had to say about being a head coach during a recent teleconference:
"I think the daily operations are different," he said. "All my life I have coached defense but I liked going over offensive film and being in control of what we put in. I will be a hands-on guy in every aspect of our program."
A defensive guy trying to coach an offensive-oriented team that no longer has SEC-caliber talent.
That's Orgeron in a nutshell. And that's why I'll be shocked if he can squeeze more than five wins out of the Rebels next season — especially with many of them doing time ...
Easy Writer appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in the Birmingham Post-Herald.
|