A smart AD is the key to nearly all football success. Lesson learned at UT
Although both Dabo Swinney and Ed Orgeron have ascended to college football’s pinnacle, their rises stand in contrast to the usual rhythm of the coaching carousel
Laine Higgins, WSJ
Jan. 9, 2020 7:58 am ET
On Monday night in New Orleans, a football team that fancies itself as Tigers will run onto the field behind a man who came into the program as an assistant with a spotty track record, rose from interim to permanent head coach amid loud criticism and later earned the admiration of his entire state with a few key wins.
Then, another group of Tigers will do the exact same thing.
This is the reality of Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Louisiana State’s Ed Orgeron, who will face off in the 2020 College Football National Championship in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Although both coaches have ascended to the sport’s pinnacle, their rises stand in contrast to the usual rhythm of the coaching carousel.
In this era of multimillion-dollar coaching salaries, firing the head football coach usually begets an exhaustive national search for a splashy hire with a proven record and an innovative approach to Xs and Os. Regardless of whether a university is a gridiron blue blood or newly aspires to greatness, athletic directors face immense pressure from their fan base to lure a program savior with a hefty contract.
Yet neither Clemson nor LSU caved when faced with filling a head coaching vacancy.
The top job at Clemson opened up when Tommy Bowden resigned in 2008, after his much-hyped team fell to 3-3. At the time, Swinney was a wide receivers coach five years removed from selling real estate. He would have never been in the mix for the head coaching job if not for the layout of Clemson’s athletic facilities.
Prior to Clemson’s $55-million dollar football complex renovation, getting from the athletic administrative offices to the parking lot required a trip past the football offices. Each evening when former athletic director Terry Don Phillips walked to his car, he passed by the room with Swinney’s desk.
“If they weren’t in meetings the players invariably would be in Dabo’s office. And not just receivers, all positions,” recalled Phillips. “He had a tremendous rapport with his players.”
Swinney’s relatability wasn’t immediately clear from a glance at the young coach’s resume, but it proved essential in recruiting. He attracted top tier players, the likes of whom Clemson previously hadn’t been able to sign. That was enough to convince Phillips that Swinney should be named interim head coach in October 2008 despite never having served as a coordinator, let alone a head coach.
“I would say that if you took a vote among the people out in the hinterland that I’m not sure Dabo would have gotten very many votes,” said Phillips of the response he got from boosters and fans.
Meanwhile, Phillips began a national search for Bowden’s permanent successor. He interviewed four head coaches and one assistant, Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator Brent Venables.
“I do believe that we could have gotten one of those coaches if we made an offer. However, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind about Dabo because I really enjoyed how he coached, the relationships he had with players, how he recruited,” said Phillips. “If I was at another school and I was looking for a coach, Dabo wouldn’t even be on the list.”
A similar situation unfolded a few hundred miles to the southwest in Baton Rouge, La. LSU coach Les Miles, who won two national titles with the Tigers, got the boot midway through the 2016 season after a 2-2 start. Then-athletic director Joe Alleva named Orgeron the interim.
“He had already been an interim coach once at Southern Cal [in 2013], so he knew how to do it,” said Alleva of Orgeron, who was the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at the time.
While Orgeron had relevant experience, fans were wary about him earning the job outright because of incidents in his past. Miami dismissed Orgeron in 1992 after a string of legal run-ins. A woman accused him of repeated violence and filed a restraining order against him in 1991, which was later rescinded. And charges of second-degree battery against Orgeron were dropped in 1992 when he and the Baton Rouge nightclub manager he allegedly head-butted repeatedly settled out of court. Orgeron did not respond to request for comment, though he has previously said the incidents “led to a turnaround in my lifestyle.”
Orgeron took a year off coaching and eventually climbed his way back into the good graces of the football powers that be. A successful stint at USC earned him the head coaching gig at Mississippi in 2005, but his 10-25 record with the Rebels in three seasons earned him another pink slip in 2007.
“People thought he was a failure at Ole Miss, and if you’re a failure at Ole Miss you’ll fail at LSU,” said Alleva.
The athletic director believed otherwise, but wanted to test Orgeron’s character. He had extensive conversations with football players and staff in the wake of Miles’ departure and the consensus was clear: “They loved the guy. When he [Orgeron] took over he just changed the whole attitude in the program.”
Had that feedback not been so definitive, LSU probably would have offered the permanent job to Tom Herman, then a buzzy coach on the rise at Houston, to satisfy disgruntled fans craving a complete teardown. But Alleva, then in the twilight of his tenure in Baton Rouge, opted to give Coach O a second chance.
“If I was 45 years old I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to hire Ed Orgeron, because at 45 you still have to worry about paying the mortgage,” said Alleva recalling the ire from fans that followed Orgeron’s promotion.
“Some of the greatest coaches in history failed the first time.”
Some of the greatest coaches in college football history also came from within. Orgeron and Swinney may buck the recent trend of quasi-celebrity hires in college football, but they also conform to a more storied gridiron tradition. Tom Osborne was an assistant at Nebraska before he won the Cornhuskers three national championships, ditto for Barry Switzer at Oklahoma.
Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer and Lloyd Carr at Michigan each won a title after starting as position coaches. Swinney has already added his name to that list. Come Monday, Ogeron may be able to as well.
Although both Dabo Swinney and Ed Orgeron have ascended to college football’s pinnacle, their rises stand in contrast to the usual rhythm of the coaching carousel
Laine Higgins, WSJ
Jan. 9, 2020 7:58 am ET
On Monday night in New Orleans, a football team that fancies itself as Tigers will run onto the field behind a man who came into the program as an assistant with a spotty track record, rose from interim to permanent head coach amid loud criticism and later earned the admiration of his entire state with a few key wins.
Then, another group of Tigers will do the exact same thing.
This is the reality of Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Louisiana State’s Ed Orgeron, who will face off in the 2020 College Football National Championship in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Although both coaches have ascended to the sport’s pinnacle, their rises stand in contrast to the usual rhythm of the coaching carousel.
In this era of multimillion-dollar coaching salaries, firing the head football coach usually begets an exhaustive national search for a splashy hire with a proven record and an innovative approach to Xs and Os. Regardless of whether a university is a gridiron blue blood or newly aspires to greatness, athletic directors face immense pressure from their fan base to lure a program savior with a hefty contract.
Yet neither Clemson nor LSU caved when faced with filling a head coaching vacancy.
The top job at Clemson opened up when Tommy Bowden resigned in 2008, after his much-hyped team fell to 3-3. At the time, Swinney was a wide receivers coach five years removed from selling real estate. He would have never been in the mix for the head coaching job if not for the layout of Clemson’s athletic facilities.
Prior to Clemson’s $55-million dollar football complex renovation, getting from the athletic administrative offices to the parking lot required a trip past the football offices. Each evening when former athletic director Terry Don Phillips walked to his car, he passed by the room with Swinney’s desk.
“If they weren’t in meetings the players invariably would be in Dabo’s office. And not just receivers, all positions,” recalled Phillips. “He had a tremendous rapport with his players.”
Swinney’s relatability wasn’t immediately clear from a glance at the young coach’s resume, but it proved essential in recruiting. He attracted top tier players, the likes of whom Clemson previously hadn’t been able to sign. That was enough to convince Phillips that Swinney should be named interim head coach in October 2008 despite never having served as a coordinator, let alone a head coach.
“I would say that if you took a vote among the people out in the hinterland that I’m not sure Dabo would have gotten very many votes,” said Phillips of the response he got from boosters and fans.
Meanwhile, Phillips began a national search for Bowden’s permanent successor. He interviewed four head coaches and one assistant, Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator Brent Venables.
“I do believe that we could have gotten one of those coaches if we made an offer. However, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind about Dabo because I really enjoyed how he coached, the relationships he had with players, how he recruited,” said Phillips. “If I was at another school and I was looking for a coach, Dabo wouldn’t even be on the list.”
A similar situation unfolded a few hundred miles to the southwest in Baton Rouge, La. LSU coach Les Miles, who won two national titles with the Tigers, got the boot midway through the 2016 season after a 2-2 start. Then-athletic director Joe Alleva named Orgeron the interim.
“He had already been an interim coach once at Southern Cal [in 2013], so he knew how to do it,” said Alleva of Orgeron, who was the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at the time.
While Orgeron had relevant experience, fans were wary about him earning the job outright because of incidents in his past. Miami dismissed Orgeron in 1992 after a string of legal run-ins. A woman accused him of repeated violence and filed a restraining order against him in 1991, which was later rescinded. And charges of second-degree battery against Orgeron were dropped in 1992 when he and the Baton Rouge nightclub manager he allegedly head-butted repeatedly settled out of court. Orgeron did not respond to request for comment, though he has previously said the incidents “led to a turnaround in my lifestyle.”
Orgeron took a year off coaching and eventually climbed his way back into the good graces of the football powers that be. A successful stint at USC earned him the head coaching gig at Mississippi in 2005, but his 10-25 record with the Rebels in three seasons earned him another pink slip in 2007.
“People thought he was a failure at Ole Miss, and if you’re a failure at Ole Miss you’ll fail at LSU,” said Alleva.
The athletic director believed otherwise, but wanted to test Orgeron’s character. He had extensive conversations with football players and staff in the wake of Miles’ departure and the consensus was clear: “They loved the guy. When he [Orgeron] took over he just changed the whole attitude in the program.”
Had that feedback not been so definitive, LSU probably would have offered the permanent job to Tom Herman, then a buzzy coach on the rise at Houston, to satisfy disgruntled fans craving a complete teardown. But Alleva, then in the twilight of his tenure in Baton Rouge, opted to give Coach O a second chance.
“If I was 45 years old I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to hire Ed Orgeron, because at 45 you still have to worry about paying the mortgage,” said Alleva recalling the ire from fans that followed Orgeron’s promotion.
“Some of the greatest coaches in history failed the first time.”
Some of the greatest coaches in college football history also came from within. Orgeron and Swinney may buck the recent trend of quasi-celebrity hires in college football, but they also conform to a more storied gridiron tradition. Tom Osborne was an assistant at Nebraska before he won the Cornhuskers three national championships, ditto for Barry Switzer at Oklahoma.
Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer and Lloyd Carr at Michigan each won a title after starting as position coaches. Swinney has already added his name to that list. Come Monday, Ogeron may be able to as well.
