College Football

What Ed Orgeron says about USC hiring Lincoln Riley

Updated Jan. 11, 2022 1:07 p.m. ET

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Coach O has high praise for the USC Trojans' big coaching move. 

In an appearance on FOX Sports' National Championship Live Tailgate, former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron commended USC for rocking the college football world in November by hiring Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma. 

'That was a great hire by USC'

Ed Orgeron believes that USC will compete for a national title sooner than later.

When discussing Riley's recruiting track record combined with the amount of football talent in Southern California, Coach O said he sees high potential.

"I think that was a great hire by USC. I think he can do it, he can do it fast and he can compete on a national level. … USC is one of these schools that it's in a recruiting area, if you get the right coach, they've got some dominant football players in about a 30-mile radius," Orgeron told Joel Klatt. 

Orgeron has his own history with USC, where he first served as defensive coordinator from 1998 to 2004 and returned to the university in 2010 as an assistant coach under Lane Kiffin. He became interim head coach in 2013 after Kiffin was fired. However, he resigned after the end of the season when USC hired Steve Sarkisian as head coach rather than promoting Orgeron. 

Les Miles hired Orgeron as a defensive coordinator for LSU in 2015. Orgeron went on to become the team's permanent head coach in 2016 and led the Tigers to a national title in 2019. LSU and Orgeron parted ways at the end of 2021. 

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Joel Klatt