LSU Football: Jim Rome demands respect for Ed Orgeron

LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron is a national champion after his team beat the Clemson Tigers on Monday night in New Orleans.

When LSU football hired Ed Orgeron in 2016 to be the Tigers’ permanent head coach, the decision was met by a lot of folks with skepticism and laughter.

Sure, Orgeron did well as the interim head coach in the wake of Les Miles’ firing, but was he really head coach material?

After all, Orgeron bombed in his previous stint as a head coach at Ole Miss.

Coach O was mocked for how he talked. He was mocked for his past. No one took him serious. He was essentially a caricature in the college football world.

But those days are over. Orgeron is now a national champion. In fact, he’s one of only six active head coaches that can claim a national championship (Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, Dabo Swinney, Mack Brown and Les Miles are the others).

And CBS Sports’ Jim Rome is demanding respect for Orgeron.

Rome is right. No one thought Orgeron was going to lead LSU to a title back in 2017 when the Tigers lost to Troy at home. Almost everyone back then was saying what a mistake it was to hire Orgeron.

LSU made the right decision. They hired an intelligent head coach that knows how to motivate and knows how to recruit. And that’s why he’s a champion now.

Orgeron’s success is an example of why folks need to withhold judgement when a coaching hire is made.

No one really knows how a hire will work out. Plenty of times we’ve seen hires that were praised end up failing, while hires that were questioned end up working out just fine.