Fiery postgame speech for all to hear
LSU coach Orgeron laments his words reached public’s ears
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Ed Orgeron says his boisterous and sometimes profane locker-room speech after the top-ranked Tigers beat Alabama was not meant for public consumption and not meant to hurt anyone.
An unidentified LSU player posted about 14 seconds of the speech on social media after Saturday night’s 46-41 victory in Tuscaloosa. A rowdy Orgeron can be heard yelling that LSU is going to beat Alabama in recruiting and “every time they see us.” Orgeron also uses an expletive to mock Alabama’s “Roll Tide” rallying cry.
“The things that I say outside, to the media, those are things I want to get out, and if I wanted that to get out, I would have said that outside,” Orgeron said Monday when asked about the social media post. “You get emotional. You talk to your team — it’s your family. Just like we all talk to our family.
“We talk around the dinner table and say some things that outside the family we don’t say. It was no means to hurt anybody — nothing like that. It was just a fiery moment, a very emotional moment. I think that’s all that was.”
The social media post has been taken down and LSU declined to identify the player.
Orgeron said he spoke to the player who broadcast that portion of the locker room celebration and that the player “felt bad.”
The victory gave unbeaten LSU (9-0, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) an inside track to the SEC championship game and potential College Football Playoff berth. The Tigers play next on Saturday night at Mississippi (4-6, 2-4) in a game nicknamed the Magnolia Bowl.
ARKANSAS: Athletic director Hunter Yurachek said Monday he felt the football program was moving in reverse over the past month, leading to the firing of second-year coach Chad Morris after 22 games.
Morris was 4-18 in two seasons and was winless in Southeastern Conference games. The tipping point came Saturday as the Razorbacks were badly outplayed from the outset in a 45-19 loss to Western Kentucky at home in front of a sparse crowd of 42,985.
“I thought the football program had taken a step backward,” Yurachek said a day after the firing was announced. “I think it was clear over the last several weeks that we were no longer competitive on the football field. I got the sense that players were no longer enjoying playing the game.”
Arkansas (2-8, 0-6 SEC) has not won a game since Sept. 14, a 55-34 win against Colorado State. Over the past four weeks, the Razorbacks were outscored 198-60 in lopsided losses to Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State and Western Kentucky. Three of those four losses were at home. Arkansas has lost 17 consecutive SEC games dating to 2017.
The decision to let Morris go came Saturday night, Yurachek said. Morris’
contract also included a substantial buyout clause, reportedly in excess of $10 million.
“We will follow his employment agreement,” said Yurachek, who was announced as the AD just one day before Morris got the job in 2017. “We will pay 70% of his contract value over the next four years. We have the means to do so, and we were comfortable doing so.”
The search for a new coach will include current head coaches, former head coaches and coordinators,
ROGERS DIES: Former Michigan State star and Detroit Lions receiver Charles Rogers has died at the age of 38.
A woman who identified herself as Cathy Rogers, his mother, confirmed the death Monday in a phone call from The Associated Press. Other details were not immediately known. Marshall Thomas, Rogers’ former basketball coach at Saginaw High School in Michigan, told MLive.com that Rogers died Monday of liver failure and also had cancer.