First of all as an LSU alum and lifelong fan, I want success for LSU regardless of who the HC is. So yes I want O to be great here.

No I did not support the process nor his hire.

No I don't believe a successful record as an interim is necessarily a good indicator of success as a HC. There are many reasons why. The main one for me is pretty simple.

There is a HUGE difference from taking over and managing someone else's program than building your own. Last season for example. After Les and Cam were fired and Ensminger was promoted LSU didn't change the playbook we still used the same playbook, toss dive etc.

O and Steve deserve tremendous credit for taking Les/Cam O and making it better. Not a little better but a lot better. It was great to see.

O did similar when taking over for Kiffin.

But there is a difference in managing someone else's O and D and creating/developing/gameplanning your own. The only record we have to go on for O running O's system is Ole Miss.

At USC he ran Kiffin's at LSU he ran Les's

Further after he left OM, O went back to being a DL coach, never a DC. Never had to develop and be responsible for a gameplan.

Can he do it? Sure he did for 35 games using HIS system at Ole Miss.

If folks here don't get that while O deserves tremendous credit for taking over bad situations at 2 places and turning them around in the middle of season, they are not being fair to O. The job he did at both should be acknowledged. In fact it may even be MORE difficult than being the HC and implementing your own system. There are "fixer" guys in sports that can come on and do that. O has proven to be one.

That said. A fixer who comes in with a staff already set, support staff already set, players, playbook already set requires a much different skillset than making every hire, and developing and implementing your philosophy.

Those are 2 radically different jobs. And O has a great record at mid season fixes and a poor one when as HC he designed and implemented his system.

I get that those here suggest we'll be fine if CEO will be a CEO and let coaches coach. I think he will too to some extent but the truth is, that lasts up and until the first loss or probably even the first subpar performance in a W.

No matter how much control O cedes to the Coordinators, O and everyone knows ultimately it's his responsibility. And he can't stand in front of the media and react to a poor performance by saying "well Dave runs the D you'll have to ask him or Matt runs the O you'll have to ask him or do we have a Special Teams coach yet? Anyway if we fumble a punt or kickoff he can't say "well talk to Coach X"

Plus this is O's dream job. Does anyone here really doubt that no matter how much he trusts his Coordinator's that O will not put his fingerprints on the philosophy and gameplans and play calls and timeouts and calls to go on 4th or not?

I'll close with I hope O goes down as the best coach in LSU history. I truly do. But a fair review of his resume would cause concern for any fair minded person.