LSU fires Miles, Cameron, promotes Orgeron
LSU fired coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron on Sunday, and promoted defensive line coach Ed Orgeron to interim head coach.
The moves came less than 24-hours after Miles briefly watched his players celebrate what they thought was a last-second winning touchdown pass at Auburn, only to walk off the field with a loss after officials determined on video replay that time had expired before the ball was snapped.
It was the latest of several frantic finishes in which the clock management of a Miles-coached offense had come under intense scrutiny. It will go down as the last.
“Coach Miles has done a tremendous job here and he’s been a great ambassador for our University, which makes this even more difficult,” LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said in a written statement. “However, it’s apparent in evaluating the program through the first month of the season that a change has to be made.
“We have an obligation to our student-athletes to put them in the best position to have success on the football field each week. We have great confidence that coach Orgeron will do just that.”
Miles’ firing, reported first by The Advocate of Baton Rouge, came hours after LSU (2-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference), which was ranked 18th last week, dropped out of the Top 25 in the latest AP Poll released Sunday afternoon.
Notre Dame fires defensive coordinator after 1-3 start
SOUTH BEND, IND. >> Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly fired defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder on Sunday, hours after an embarrassing 38-35 home loss to Duke dropped the Fighting Irish — who started the season ranked No. 10 — to 1-3.
“I had time last night to evaluate our current situation and made what I felt to be the best decision for the program,” Kelly said.
Greg Hudson, a former Irish linebacker under Lou Holtz who was hired as a defensive analyst over the summer, was named VanGorder’s replacement. Hudson previously served as defensive coordinator at Purdue, East Carolina and Minnesota, as well as assistant head coach and linebackers coach at Florida State.
Kelly said he hired Hudson to bring experience and brain power to the program.
“Now as the defensive coordinator he’ll assume the responsibilities of the coordinator to get some energy into the group, some passion and get that unit playing the kind of football I know they’re capable of,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he also plans to spend a lot more time with the defense, a process that began last week. He wants to see the Irish playing “fast and free and loose.”
“I need to see guys playing the game like kids, and not so mechanical and robotic,” he said.
Kelly said there was plenty of room to make changes in the defense without overwhelming players, saying there was “a vast library that is easily tapped into from a different perspective.” He also wants to see the Irish use more players.