Orgeron’s big moment was…underwhelming

Published 6:00 pm Tuesday, July 11, 2017

HOOVER, Ala. — Oh no, Coach O. Say it ain’t seaux.

Ed Orgeron’s visit here was a highly anticipated event Monday.

SEC Media Days hadn’t seen Orgeron at the podium since the Ole Miss days a decade ago, back in 2007.

He didn’t win many games with the Rebels — 3-21 in three years of conference games — but he was usually fun to watch.

Or to try to listen to, always a challenge.

Entertainment value is highly respected at this event. Tall tales are built right up there on that big stage. Orgeron was expected to take up some of the slack of an affair that no longer has Steve Spurrier or Mark Richt or — as Orgeron knows all too well — Les Miles.

Orgeron was back after a 10-year hiatus. And, as the media division of SEC Nation waited breathlessly …

Sad to say, but he kind of bombed at the big podium Monday.

I don’t know what everybody was expecting.

I guess the feeling was that if LSU is going to go forward with this native son, Cajun experiment atop Louisiana’s flagship football program, then go ahead and jump in with both (bare) feet.

There was even wry speculation that it would look like one of those Louisiana hurricane press conferences, with a sign-language interpreter conveniently stationed at Orgeron’s side, just to explain what he was actually saying to those not fluent in back-back-bayou speak.

Rumors abounded that the stenographers on hand wanted hazardous duty pay.

Instead, you needed nothing more than No Doz.

You could understand him just fine. It just didn’t seem worth the effort.

Nothing annoys the huddled masses in the media more than the common Media Days filibuster tactic of running through the entire depth chart.

Not the time. Not the place.

The media has long suggested having a gong stationed nearby for whenever a coach decides to go there.

Orgeron went way deep into it, even special teams.

When he finally came up for air on the other side, you could almost hear a sigh of relief in the big ballroom.

Miles used to resort to that ploy, but only after Uncle Les had already regaled everyone with the annual Miles Family Update, usually some madcap, mishap-filled summer vacation adventure that would put the Grizwalds to shame.

Maybe they were expecting Orgeron to  rip off the shirt under that ill-fitting three-piece suit — part of the “O” legend and lore in that past with the Rebels.

Nothing is worse for this affair than to be boring.

I didn’t think it was possible with Coach O, but he pulled it off.

Even some of the gravel seemed to be missing in the accent.

He almost seemed citified. Well, not quite, but close enough.

He can overcome this.

Mainly, let Coach O be Coach O.

Monday, other than the “Geaux Tigers!” exclamation at the end, he seemed to be trying to prove that he wasn’t the same guy that went 10-25 at Ole Miss overall.

“Ole Miss, I  had a great job,” Orgeron said. “A job in the SEC. Was given a great chance. I wasn’t ready. I went there as defensive line coach. I did the things that I did at the defensive line coach and was very successful over the years. It didn’t work at Ole Miss.”

We already knew that.

But he vowed to change.

He talked to respected mentors after the belly-flop at Ole Miss.

At Ole Miss he, the former defensive line coach, thought he’d micromanage every unit on the team.

The biggest change, already obvious at LSU, is that now he’s entrusted the offense (Matt Canada) and defense (Dave Aranda) to a pair of highly paid, rockstar coordinators, and apparently will leave them be to work their magic.

And nobody expects him to be a caricature Cajun Coach from central casting.

But the reason most of Louisiana — and even beyond the borders — is hoping for this thing to work out is that it’s hard not to pull for the true Cajun from deep down the bayou to make it a great story.

He didn’t need to be tossing Mardi Gras beads through the press conference. That might have been over-doing it. It’s pretty obvious he’s from Louisiana.

But there’s plenty of time between now and the season’s start to figure out that depth chart.

It wouldn’t have hurt, for this day at least, to recall some of grandma’s boudin and jambalaya.

It’s a minor bump in the road.

We just expected more.