Cajun Country Beams with Pride over Orgeron being hired as LSU head coach

quote:

---

"We've got our man," LSU athletic director Joe Alleva proclaimed at Orgeron's introductory press conference Nov. 26, "and he's been here all along."

---

quote:

---

For the people of the Bayou Parishes, it was almost as if Christmas came early.

---

quote:

---

For the people of the Bayou Parishes, it was almost as if Christmas came early.

"(At) 7:30 in the morning I got a call. He said, 'Mom, you're talking to the head coach of LSU.' I said, 'If Daddy would be here ...,'" an emotional Coco said this month as she prepared for the holiday season, her voice trailing off. "That was the emotion of the moment. He would have been so, so proud of him. Was I proud? You better believe it.

"I'm very grateful that our state hired a man like that. He's a fantastic human being. And was he happy? Like a kid on Christmas morning, baby. My phone blew up that day. It was wonderful."

---

quote:

---

"(He loves to eat) everything but liver. He doesn't like liver. Gumbo, jambalaya, boiled seafood, fried seafood, baked seafood," Coco said laughing as she rattled off her son's list of favorites, adding, "Spaghetti, boulettes, but I call them shrimp burgers."

---

quote:

---

But the early '90s were a tough time for Coach O. Undisclosed personal problems forced him to take a leave of absence from Miami in 1992, which turned into a permanent move. He took some time off to sort out his life, but he had the itch to get back into coaching. Thanks to the help of a family friend, Orgeron got back into the profession in 1994 when Nicholls State hired him to coach linebackers.

---

quote:

---

He then had stints at Syracuse and USC before Ole Miss hired him as its head coach. Orgeron admittedly wasn't ready to be a head coach and the Rebels fired him after he went 10-25 in three seasons. The Saints hired Orgeron in 2008 as their defensive line coach, then he joined Lane Kiffin at Tennessee a year later and then at USC in 2010. When Kiffin was fired in 2013, Orgeron replaced him on an interim basis and went 6-2. After the Trojans hired Steve Sarkisian for the head job, Orgeron moved back to Mandeville with his wife, Kelly, and their three sons, Tyler and twins Cody and Parker. He didn't coach in 2014.

---

quote:

---

"We're hardheaded Cajuns. We like to micromanage everything. We think we can do it better than anybody else. ...

"It's something in the Cajun blood. He's learned how to do things differently because he failed. It's not about the failure; it's about the get up."

LSU came calling in 2015 and now the rest is history for the gravel-voiced Cajun, who received a five-year contract worth $3.5 million annually when he shed the interim label.

---

quote:

---

Tommy Gisclair, Orgeron's first cousin, said, "I'm extremely proud of him. The Cajun heritage, it makes everyone proud and gleam with pride. It's good for all of south Louisiana, and the whole state for that matter. I know what he strives for, and I know when he's determined to do something he's going to get it done."

---

quote:

---

"I think I felt the pride more than anybody because I freaking lived with him," Hebert said. "He was my college roommate for three years. If I would have told Bebe back in the dorm room 35 years ago that we would each make $3 million a year off of football, hell no, we wouldn't have believed it."

---

quote:

---

Galliano native Gloria Bouvier, 78, worked at the telephone company with Ed Sr. for about 20 years. "It made all us Cajuns proud," she said. "Bebe worked so hard all his life through the ups and downs, he deserves the job. He's good at what he's doing. All my friends and I were praying he would get the job."

Clint Guidry, 37, owns a seafood market in Larose and is a diehard football fan. His father, Terry, played on the '77 Class 4A state title team with Orgeron and Hebert.

"He's a player's coach, and he's very enthusiastic with a lot of energy," Guidry said. "He's a great recruiter. I truly think he's going to do a wonderful job.

---

quote:

---

"He is the Cajun version of Rocky," Detillier said. "Here's a guy that nobody would give a chance. ... He worked hard and was willing to move and do the things he had to do to succeed."

---