Orgeron had his man all along

Published 7:00 pm Friday, January 12, 2018

<p class="p1">Funny, but Steve Ensminger didn’t sound anything like an old coot of a retread offensive coordinator stuck in the 1970s and still married to good ol’ Charlie McClendon’s LSU offense.</p><p class="p1">Maybe that’s what some were expecting Thursday.</p><p class="p1">That’s what Twitter was fairly well convinced of. The fan message boards were on fire about it.</p><p class="p1">Yet, in the last time you’re likely to hear from Ensminger publicly for a while, I could have sworn I heard him say something about “We have to put three and four wide receivers on the field” and “RPO (run-pass option)” and “We need to be a fastball team.”</p><p class="p1">The phrase “no-huddle” was used in a complete sentence.</p><p class="p1">Then head coach Ed Orgeron chimed in: “We will develop championship quarterbacks” and …</p><p class="p1">Whoa, there. This might be a little much for Tigers fans to take in for one sitting.</p><p class="p1">Close your eyes, ignore an old Tiger getting choked up wondering what ol’ Charlie Mac would think of his old quarterback now, and you could have imagined that this was one of those “trophy” coordinator hires to unveil the latest hot shot with all the answers.</p><p class="p1">The reality is that the latest guy who’s going to bring the LSU offense into the current century has been hanging around campus since 2010 and, except for that interim hitch under Orgeron in 2016, happily managed to keep a low profile.</p><p class="p1">But, OK, maybe they salvaged the news conference, even as Orgeron rolled out Ensminger amidst something less than oohs and aahs Thursday.</p><p class="p1">The highlight was probably when Ensminger was asked about the notion that, as an old familiar name to fans, his hiring hadn’t sparked much dancing in the streets.</p><p class="p1">He unapologetically let out a barnyard epitaph similar to bullcorn toward any who might be nonplussed by his promotion. But it was uttered more with a shrug than any defiance.</p><p class="p1">That’s the good thing about Ensminger. If he has anything going for him in this high-profile (and, at LSU, often thankless) job, it’s that he’s not really affected and could give a big corn about what anybody else thinks. He barely knows what social media or even newspapers are.</p><p class="p1">The greybeards old enough to remember his LSU quarterbacking days know that he has never lacked for confidence.</p><p class="p1">“I’ve been doing this for a long time in the SEC,” he said casually. “I’m ready for this.”</p><p class="p1">But, face it, it’s a risky hire for Orgeron.</p><p class="p1">Mainly, it’s not a sexy hire, the kind of thing that drives the offseason and either ignites or quiets the fans’ bickering.</p><p class="p1">So nothing much to get excited about on that front.</p><p class="p1">Much like the national search that reeled in Orgeron as head coach a little more than a year ago, LSU scoured the countryside and ended up hollering down the office hallway to fill the position.</p><p class="p1">It’s not the kind of “next-up” philosophy most fans want to hear.</p><p class="p1">But it doesn’t mean it can’t work.</p><p class="p1">There was a time when Ensminger’s name would have sparked a pep rally.</p><p class="p1">That was 20 years ago or so when he was one of those up-and-comers, a flavor of the month.</p><p class="p1">If nothing else, he was an aggressive play-caller during that interim run last year. </p><p class="p1">Thursday he was talking about finally getting his dream job.</p><p class="p1">It makes for a nice story since …</p><p class="p1">But wait. I was standing there at the end of Ensminger’s interim hitch in Orlando last season and distinctly heard him insist that he wasn’t interested in the gig full-time.</p><p class="p1">“Last year I was hesitant because it wasn’t my offense,” was the explanation Thursday. “I knew it enough to tweak some things. Now it’s my offense. I have a year now.”</p><p class="p1">It’s a major change of direction for Orgeron, whose original master plan was to keep bringing in high-profile, high-paid rock star coordinators and letting them do their thing.</p><p class="p1">That begat, almost sight unseen, a stranger with a big reputation in Matt Canada to run a quirky offense.</p><p class="p1">It had potential, and maybe wasn’t really given a chance, but Orgeron obviously wasn’t comfortable with it — or perhaps he just didn’t see eye to eye with Canada personally.</p><p class="p1">Either way now he’s going with his gut feeling rather than appeasing the fans.</p><p class="p1">He said he thought about just keeping Ensminger last year.</p><p class="p1">“I remember my statement: I’m going to find the best offensive coordinator in the country,” he said. “And I did. I did all I could do to do the things I promised the fans. All the while I knew I had Steve Ensminger there and he’s a great coordinator.</p><p class="p1">“I knew the best coordinator for LSU was Steve Ensminger. Deep down in my heart I’ve always known that.”</p><p class="p1">Now he’s betting his future on it.</p>