re: The Orgeron Extension Talk: Why?

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He has to be able to recruit freshmen and sophomores and if the decision on whether to extend or not was delayed 10 months, until the end of the 2019 season, there would not be enough time for him to make up the ground he lost on those players.

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This is only an issue if he isn’t having good seasons.

Who’s more likely to be fired: Coach A has 5 years left on his contract and went 4 and 8 last year. Coach B has 2 years left on his contract but went 11-1 last year.

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Could that be it? I'm just guessing.

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Obviously you are because you've never seen anything out of Alleva which proves it.

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What decade are you living in? AP has been irrelevant a long time. Do we want to play for championships or do we want to be UCF and marvel at final AP rankings?


Final 2018 CFP poll

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You know that poll is done before the bowls, right?

AP and Coaches have us at 6 & 7

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There's a better way to do that; go to the playoffs.

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Why not both?

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That has nothing to do with the fact that he sucks at his job.

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Get real. LSU is relevant again under Alleva and Orgeron.

You had good reason to be skeptical before the '18 season. Now (after a top-10 finish) you just look "dug in" and silly.

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That has nothing to do with the fact that he sucks at his job.

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Our 3 major sports seem to be doing pretty well at the moment. Facilities are continuously being upgraded. Revenue is great.

"Sucks at his job" is a little ridiculous to say.

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The real answer is because Alleva needs to capitalize on the fact that O was his pick (remember “I am the search”?) and by extending O it keeps alleva safe because he knows whenever O gets fired, he won’t be picking his replacement because he will he in the unemployment line with him.

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The real answer, right or wrong, is this has become standard practice in college football. Look at Auburn and Gus, same thing. He beats Alabama in 2017, and they give him an absurd raise the very next week...then he goes on to get blasted in the SECCG, blasted in the Peach Bowl, then fell apart last year, and now the fans want him gone but they're stuck with a $30MM buyout. Barry Odom goes 8-5 with a Liberty Bowl loss, gets raise and extension. Granted it's Missouri, but still, did he really deserve a raise and extension this quickly especially considering he's been leaning on an NFL QB that will be gone next year? Butch Jones continuously got raises at UT for mediocre results, now they're stuck paying his $9MM buyout. Will Muschamp got a raise and extension after an 11 win season at Florida, and he followed that up with a 4-8 season and was fired two years later. And he just got another raise and extension at USC after a 7-6 season this year.

There are more examples, but these are just a few in our own conference.

I'm in no way an expert on contract negotiations at this level (nor is anyone here), but it has become just standard business in college football. I think the root of it comes down to their agents and ADs being scared and not wanting to dig their heels in at all. This has led to ridiculously inflated coaching salaries, ridiculous buyouts, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Eventually, however, there is no way this bubble doesn't pop eventually. If coaching salaries continue to rise like they have the last 5-10 years, there is no way I see that being sustainable.

Fortunately for Orgeron, his buyout right now is "only" $5.2MM (obviously not taking into account the terms of this new contract), so relatively speaking, had he fallen on his face this year, it would have been very easy to cut ties with him. You also need to take into consideration it is very unlikely he'd do poorly enough next year to get fired. So we pretty much know he will be here through the 2020 season. If whatever new buyout he'll have puts us back around the current $5,2MM number at the end of 2020, I believe we'd be fine. However, if this buyout has us on the hook for $10MM+ at the end of 2020, I think some reevaluating needs to be done.

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He is not getting fired this year no matter what (outside of epic collapse) and if he delivers less than 9 regular season wins extension or no he will be on the hot seat in 2020. It really is just about driving the narrative for recruiting this year while we have momentum and continuing to keep the positive buzz around the program.

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Agree with all that you write, with one exception. It is more than just a recruiting tactic (though that is certainly part of it).

It is also the fact that Coach O had one of the best 2018 performances of any HC who may be available to other Power-5 programs. Outside of the Louisiana area, no one is real sure what a Cajun is, and "Shrimp Boat Captain" sounds like a cool title - we all love shrimp.

Orgeron can make more money with less bullshite at a dozen other programs. Alleva is smart to give him a raise and an extension.

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Which programs are those?

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Start with the ones that didn't finish in the top-10 in the final standings AND didn't finish in the top-10 in 2019 recruiting.

At least 60 such programs among the Power-5 teams. Look for a dozen in there.