Ed Orgeron Comments On The Bo Pelini Hiring During Tuesday Radio Appearance

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron joined the ESPN Baton Rouge radio show "Off The Bench" Tuesday morning and commented on the hiring of new defensive coordinator Bo Pelini. Here's what he had to say:

On how Coach O landed on Bo Pelini as LSU's new DC:

“I’ve known Bo a long time. And obviously, with Coach Aranda, I knew one day that he would get a head job and we are happy for him,” Orgeron said. “I thought Bo was the best choice for LSU. When he came here, he had great defenses, some of the top defenses in the nation."

“I’ve known Bo for a long time, he and I have a great passion for the game and I think with the coaches we have on our staff, this is an excellent choice, the best choice, I feel, for LSU. I always want to bring the best to LSU. I think we got a great hire.”

On how the players will respond to Pelini's firey coaching style:

“I think they’re going to love it,” Orgeron responded. “Obviously, there are several ways to coach and everybody has to coach within their own demeanor. I love the way he coaches. You know, Coach (Pete) Carroll is a mentor of Bo Pelini and I, and I talked at length about Bo to coach Carroll, he said he’s one of the best defensive minds he’s ever been around. I talked to the Jack Marruci, I talked to Tommy Moffit, and I talked to the ex-players. They said he's one of the best defensive coordinators. He's highly recommended, I just thought he was the best choice."

On how Pelini has kept up with the evolution of college offenses:

“I think he had a good taste of it being at Nebraska, being in that league up there, he saw a couple of those offenses,” Orgeron said. "In fact, when he was a defensive coordinator, we went and talked to him about playing the spread when we were at USC. So, he knows how to play against the spread. He’s been in the NFL, he can defend anything, he’s a brilliant mind.”

On Pelini fitting in with the rest of LSU's defensive staff:

"It means a lot for continuity," Orgeron said. "I think we have an excellent defensive staff here. I talked to Bo about it, he was all for it. We talked at length about each assistant coach. He knew about them and was very impressed with all of them. Everything is going to fit in well. He's going to start work on Monday morning and we are just excited to have him. Just fortunate to have him, I'm glad he was available."

On whether LSU will run a 4-3 or 3-4 base defense under Pelini:

"We talked about it briefly. I think he knows how to do both, it’s going to be his decision on which way he wants to go and we will follow his lead."

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