Ed Orgeron resigned as a coach at USC on Monday after the Trojans hired Steve Sarkisian as their new head coach, and it looks like he is not wasting any time getting his name out there for potential head coaching jobs.
According Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News, Orgeron is applying for the Florida Atlanta and Wake Forest head coaching jobs.
The Florida Atlantic vacancy was created when Carl Pelini resigned over a supposed drug issue (the real reason he was let go was his 5-15 record). The Wake Forest job opened when longtime coach Jim Grobe resigned on Monday.
CBS Sports’ Bruce Feldman refuted Wolf’s report about Orgeron applying for the Florida Atlantic position, saying there was “no truth” to that report.
Whether it’s true or not that Orgeron has already applied for those two jobs, you can be certain that he will be aiming for another head coaching job. After several successful years as a USC defensive line coach and recruiter, Orgeron was given the chance to become a head coach at Ole Miss. He went 10-25 in three seasons and was fired from the job. He then went to the NFL but returned to college to become an assistant on Lane Kiffin’s staff at Tennessee in 2009. He moved with Kiffin back to USC a year later, and he went 6-2 as the program’s interim head coach this season.
Now that his name is back in the spotlight thanks to his solid performance as the interim coach, Orgeron will want to capitalize. It makes sense to put his name in the hat for coaching jobs while his name is in the news.
After seeing him struggle at Ole Miss, I don’t think he’ll succeed somewhere else, but based on his experience and success as a recruiter, someone might be interested and willing to give him another shot.
