The REAL Story about Orgeron & LSU

The courtship of Ed Orgeron was rather intriguing.

The former Ole Miss head coach was not only the object of Tennessee�s desire, but LSU coach Les Miles threw an all-out blitz on his former coaching rival.

Tennessee won out.

Here�s how it unfolded.

Orgeron, defensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints, had talked with Lane Kiffin for more than a month about joining Kiffin at Tennessee - even before Kiffin was officially hired. The two had coached together previously at Southern Cal.

While Orgeron said he enjoyed his one season as an NFL assistant, he said he wants to be a college head coach again, so he entertained offers from both LSU and Tennessee.

Orgeron went to Destin, Florida, for a few days and told each program he would make a decision by January 1st. When Lane Kiffin felt he was losing the battle, Lane and his father, Monte Kiffin, UT�s newly hired defensive coordinator, flew to Destin and knocked on Orgeron�s condo door.

The Kiffins convinced Orgeron to take the Tennessee job and offered him $650,000, about $50,000 more than LSU had offered.

When LSU coach Les Miles heard Orgeron was taking the Tennessee job as assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator, Miles drove to New Orleans after LSU�s win in the Chick-fil-A bowl and offered Orgeron a whopping $900,000.

Orgeron declined, saying he had given Tennessee and Kiffin his word that he would join the Vols� staff.

Thus, Orgeron turned down $250,000 to go to Knoxville.



So...does anyone still think he went to UT because of $$$?