Ed Orgeron recalls LSU buyout talks: 'What time you want me to leave?'
Orgeron led LSU to a national title in 2019
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ed Orgeron and LSU agreed to a contract buyout at the end of the 2021 season – two years after he led the Tigers to a national championship with one of the best college football teams ever assembled.
On Tuesday, Orgeron made an appearance at the Little Rock Touchdown Club and opened up about the day he learned that LSU was going to buy him out.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}College Football Coach Ed Orgeron attends the Big Game Kick-Off event hosted by Merging Vets and Players at Academy LA on February 09, 2022 in Los Angeles. (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
"I was so grateful for my time with LSU, that was my opportunity. Coaches have a shelf, some coaches got 50 years, some got 12, I had six. Good. I gotta tell ya, we had a meeting, they said ‘Coach, things are not going well.’ No s---, Ray Charles can see that, brother.’ They were good, Scott Woodard is a friend of mine, really, a lot of respect for the way they handled me," Orgeron said.
"They said ‘Coach, you got $17.1 million dollars on your contract, we’re gonna give it to ya.’ I said, ‘what time you want me to leave and what door you want me to go out of, brother?’"
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Since the national championship season, LSU had not produced the same results on the field. The team finished 5-5 in the coronavirus pandemic-impacted season, started the 2021 season 4-3 and had losses to UCLA, Auburn and Kentucky. LSU ultimately finished the 2021 season 6-6 under Orgeron.
Head Coach Ed Orgeron hands the trophy over to Joe Burrow, #9 of the LSU Tigers, after defeating the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff National Championship held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020, in New Orleans. (Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
Brian Kelly replaced Orgeron at LSU, leaving Notre Dame to do it.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron during a game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the LSU Tigers, in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on November 27, 2021. (John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
LSU lost to Florida State 24-23 to start the 2022 season.