ORGERON HAS SEEN STRUGGLES
LSU coach Ed Orgeron forged a career path that led him to the top of his profession by persevering through personal and professional hardships.
So it’s little wonder that he continues to project optimism while the Tigers have labored in mediocrity just one season after a historically dominant national title campaign.
After going 15-0 a season ago, with most victories by double-digit margins, LSU is 3-3, unranked and listed as a two-touchdown underdog when the Tigers visit No. 5 Texas A&M on Saturday.
“Sometimes you learn the most from your losses,” Orgeron said in an interview with The Associated Press about his recently published memoir, “Flip the Script: Lessons Learned on the Road to a Championship.”
“Nobody wants to lose, but if you can grow from that, it’s going to pay off in the end,” Orgeron said. “I think that’s what we’re going through right now. This is a brand new team. Hardly any of these guys played on the championship team and this is the first (season) a lot of them have played. I know we’re building a championship team, but championship teams take a while to build. I’m in no panic or nothing like that.”
Off the field his program is part of an LSU investigation of the university’s handling of reported sexual and domestic assault cases. Interim LSU President Thomas C. Galligan Jr. and Athletic Director Scott Woodward announced the start of the probe in a published letter to the LSU community. The investigation encompasses all departments at LSU. But several high-profile allegations in recent years have involved members of LSU’s football team.
Orgeron has faced many personal challenges in his career.
He opens up in the book
about bouts with alcoholism that stunted his coaching career when he was an assistant at Miami while the Hurricanes won a national championship. He wound up back in his native Larose, La., unemployed and living with his parents before resuming his career as a volunteer assistant at Nicholls State.
“I just felt that, you know, I have no regrets of the past,” said Orgeron, who dedicated the book to his mother and late father, whom he credits for instilling in him his work ethic and resilience.
“Obviously, I did some things that wasn’t right. But I learned my lesson from all that,” Orgeron said. “Hopefully by me sharing my past and the
stuff that’s happened to me, it could help somebody down the road — especially with my addiction. That’s something that people battle all the time, battle on a daily basis. It’s been 20 years that I’ve been sober. And look what’s happened to me in my life.”
Thursday’s result
Utah State 41, New Mexico 27: Andrew Peasley passed for 239 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 118 yards and another score, and host Utah State used four third-quarter touchdowns to beat New Mexico in a battle of winless teams.
Utah State had just two passing touchdowns — and 45 combined points — through its
first four games.
Utah State trailed 13-6 at the break until Peasley led the Aggies on three touchdownscoring drives in the first sixplus minutes of the third quarter for a 27-13 lead. He had touchdown throws of 35, 26 and 25 yards.
Kina Maile, who blocked a punt earlier in the game, scored on a fumble return to make it 28-13 and Peasley added a 62-yard scrambling touchdown late in the fourth.
Justin McGriff, Savon Scarver and Carson Terrell each had receiving touchdowns for Utah State (1-4, 1-4 Mountain West).
Trae Hall passed for 63 yards and rushed for 70 for New Mexico (0-5, 0-5).