LSU Offense / Ensminger / Orgeron

Like so many of you, I am a life-long Tiger fan and today's official announcement of the Ensminger hire is disappointing, sobering, frustrating, and anxiety-inducing.

Let me first say that I have met Coach Ensminger on a couple of occasions, and I think he is a tremendous coach. He is bright and, in my opinion, a gifted play-caller. But being a good play-caller does not necessarily make someone a good Offensive Coordinator. It's certainly the most visible part of the job and it is extremely important, but there are so many other facets of that position, such as staff management, practice-planning, scheme installation, player development, etc.

But every one of those things stems from one key component of offensive football: PHILOSOPHY.

This is where Orgeron and Ensminger scare me. Obviously, the vast majority of us have been calling for a massive shift in offensive philosophy for the last several years. We were, as we know, promised that the best and most innovative coordinators in the country would be hired; and then, all of the sudden, we decided that one of the most innovative coordinators in the country was already on our staff.... coaching the TEs.

I don't want to see us operate in a phone booth. I want to see us utilize the width of the field to create more space for our athletes to showcase their abilities. I want to see an RPO perimeter game built into our run calls to keep the 7th and 8th defenders from factoring into the front in 1-safety structures. In fact, I'd like to have an explosive enough passing game to force defenses into 2-safety structures as much as possible. In the past, we have only been able to do that situationally (3rd and Long, etc.) I want to see a complete OFFENSIVE SYSTEM instead of just a collection of plays that don't necessarily counter a defensive reaction to a base scheme. I want to see an offense that utilizes blocking schemes that attack fronts in a variety of ways, including vertical and horizontal displacement on inside and outside zone schemes, and wash displacement on gap schemes. I want to see a passing game that incorporates vertical and horizontal stretches on both layers of coverage, and a QB that is well-coached enough to move his feet and eyes in rhythm with the called concept. In short, I want to see an offense that is on the cutting-edge.

Until we utilize the width of the field, we will never reach our potential offensively.

I don't see Coach Ensminger having the ability to deliver these things to us. We have been waiting for someone to bring this offense into the 21st century. Time and time again, we have either struck out or absolutely refused to budge philosophically. This is the concern with Coach Orgeron. I don't think even he knows what he truly wants offensively. It's also entirely possible that he does know what he wants, but he has definitely talked out of both sides of his mouth.

Will Ensminger do a good job? I think he will be ok. Is this a good hire? Absolutely not. Will he bring a true change to LSU's offensive philosophy? Doubtful. Many people have said that he isn't a bad coach. Of course he's not. He's a very talented coach. But in no way does that make him the right guy for the OC job.