Hayride: Benefit Of The Doubt 37, Ed Orgeron 7

quote:

---

NO. 1: THIS LOSS HAD THE FEEL OF REALITY, NOT A HICCUP
The result in Starkville, if you hadn’t seen the game, would likely appear as a one-off in a game where nothing went right against an inspired opponent better than people thought. And it might well be that’s what it was. Except LSU let Chattanooga’s backup running back rush for 85 yards the previous week, so the warning signs for what Mississippi State did to them were there.

---

quote:

---

NO. 2: ORGERON LOST THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT WITH THAT PERFORMANCE

That’s definitely where it sits with me, and I’m most certainly not alone. When Orgeron was hired, I wasn’t sparing in my criticism of LSU athletic director Joe Alleva – not so much because he hired Orgeron but because the process which produced the hire was hopelessly bush-league. Lots of people are going to be asking this week why Alleva didn’t talk to Dan Mullen, Mississippi State’s head coach, whom everybody knows is going to leave for the first bigger job he can get, before he threw up his hands and hired Orgeron. Right now that looks like it would have been a good move.

---

quote:

---

NO. 3: ALLEVA WAS A BIGGER LOSER THAN ORGERON TONIGHT You almost have to feel sorry for LSU’s athletic director, because before tonight the most recent developments with respect to his job performance involved the amazing job Will Wade has been doing as the new men’s basketball coach. Wade has shown all the hallmarks to date of a program-builder; he’s turned over the roster and brought in a host of talented players, he’s built an outstanding coaching staff and he’s generated a ton of excitement about the program’s future.

But at this point, hiring Wade actually might work against him. If Orgeron were to struggle to get bowl-eligible this year, let’s say, while Wade coaches a totally rebuilt team into the NIT or maybe even the NCAA in March, the results of the two search processes will be pretty stark; one coach hired through a national search and winning a competition with several other programs trying to land him succeeds above expectations, while the other hired through a process perceived to be less open and more political turns into a fizzle. You could survive that if the fizzle was in basketball rather than football – when it’s the other way around, everyone will ask why Alleva didn’t do his homework and get a Will Wade for football.

---