LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron is in charge of leading one of the most prestigious programs in the country.
He essentially has the keys to a Bugatti.
But he’s driving it like it’s a Pinto.
The Tigers have a world-class program led by a retread coach who caught lightning in a bottle in 2019 thanks to one of the most talented college football rosters of all time.
Orgeron can recruit — no one has ever denied that — but he can’t coach. He’s not a good CEO of a program.
But here’s the thing — he’s being paid like he’s one of the best CEOs in the sport.
LSU Football is paying Ed Orgeron a lot to be mediocre
We already knew that Orgeron was making a lot of money to lead the Tigers to mediocrity.
The extension that Orgeron signed after the 2019 season was ill-advised at best.
Sure, Orgeron won a national championship — something very few college football coaches have accomplished.
But why give Orgeron that big extension? LSU is the job that Orgeron covets the most. He was never going anywhere. I even think he’d coach the Tigers for a discount.
It just wasn’t a good business decision.
That extension led to this week’s revelation, via the latest USA Today coaching salary database, that Orgeron is the second-highest paid coach in college football behind Alabama’s Nick Saban.
Orgeron’s total pay is an insane $9,012,917.00.
Over $9 million for 8 wins in the last 16 games.
A coach making $9 million should never leave the top 15. I understand there will be down years. There will be years where the team is younger. But this LSU team is a top 25 team — even with the plethora of injuries the program has dealt with this season.
Orgeron can’t go fast enough at this point. Too bad it’s going to cost over $20 million to push Coach O out the door.