Jenkins returning to retirement after LSU’s bowl game

Published 7:00 pm Monday, November 27, 2017

This time Pete Jenkins says he really, really means it.

Of course, the legendary 76-year-old LSU defensive line coach has tried to retire before and it didn’t really take.

But he insists that after LSU’s yet-to-be-determined bowl game, he will retire for good after three different stints with the Tigers under five different LSU head coaches.

“The timing is right,” Jenkins said in a release by the school. “I just can’t express how much LSU football means to me.

“There are so many special memories for me and my family at LSU. I’ve been truly blessed. There’s no place better on a Saturday night than Tiger Stadium and I will always be a Tiger.”

Jenkins’ latest hitch with LSU began last year when Ed Orgeron lured him out of retirement after taking over as interim head. Orgeron had been coaching the defensive line.

“I wouldn’t have come back for anyone but Coach O,” Jenkins said. “I feel great about the direction Coach O has the program headed and the things that he’s doing.”

 It was the second time Orgeron got his mentor back into coaching. The same thing happened in 2013 when Orgeron took over as interim head coach at Southern Cal.

 “We are forever grateful for Coach Jenkins and his 15 years of service to LSU,” Orgeron said. “Coach Jenkins is one of the most respected coaches in football when it comes to defensive play.

“The LSU football program benefitted and improved because of Coach Jenkins. Our defensive line played at an extremely high level throughout the 2017 season due to the teaching, technique and expectations he instilled on his players.”

Jenkins first came to LSU head coach Jerry Stovall in 1980 and stayed on through the regimes of Bill Arnsparger and Mike Archer.

He later returned in 2000 to work with Nick Saban, but first retired after two years on Saban’s staff.

Before, between and after he coached at four other SEC schools — South Carolina, Florida, Missisippi State and Auburn -— as well as several other schools and the NFL Philadelphia Eagles.

Orgeron said Dennis Johnson, who currently coaches the LSU outside linebackers, will take over as defensive line coach for the Tigers following the bowl game.