Ensminger to OC - First-Choice? Stop-gap? Deflection? (Long)

First, I think everything given out publicly needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Secondly, I have no major problem with dismissing Canada (although I liked him as OC). If O felt there was just too much tension between the two and there were irreconcilable differences, even if financially irresponsible, I can accept that.

So how did things go from there . . .

Scenario 1: Ensminger was #1 all-along. I have to think even JA saw the optics problem with this. 'We're going to fire Matt with the payout to hire a guy who already on-staff before Matt?' So the various names that were 'leaked' (as if though real searches were being conducted) to ease the push-back.

Scenario #2: O wanted others (Freeze? Briles? TBD?) but JA nixed 'em - for now. So rather than hire someone O was unfamiliar with (has O brought anybody on staff that he wasn't familiar with?), E was a one year stop-gap until he could hire his long-term OC. The fact that E is on record 'not wanting' the job just makes it easier for him to bow out whether successful or not.

(BTW, #2 is not too different from what Les wanted after '07. My understanding is Les wanted Muschamp. But Muschamp left AU for the HCIW at UT. So he rolled 1 year with Malleveto.)
Obviously, these aren't the only two scenarios and they can be nuanced as well.
If O really has LSU's best interest at heart, then I cannot conceive that he really thought E was the best OC. That's not even sober. All I can say is I hope this year was been a wakeup call.

If #2 is what happened (which I hope was the case), then I wouldn't expect O to embarrass E (and FTR Les didn't embarrass Mallory/BDP). I expect E to graciously step down after Saturday.

My dream (and yours) is for the day when we have an OC that will unleash all the LA skill talent on Bama and watch Saban realize he can't recruit himself out of this.