The UCLA football job was among the first college jobs to open this season. The administration fired DeShaun Foster after a 0-3 start to the year. The Bruins are desperate for someone to jumpstart that program because fan support has fallen off a cliff, with barely anyone showing up to support them when they play their home games at the Rose Bowl.
One name that has been mentioned and now seems to have more traction than initially thought is Ed Orgeron. On3 Sports' college football insider Pete Nakos said that Orgeron is a name to monitor and is not just speculation. He has recruiting ties on the West Coast and announced earlier this summer that he wants to get back into coaching.
Nakos elaborated more: “An interesting name to monitor is former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron. A former USC assistant with deep Los Angeles ties in the high school ranks and an understanding of recruiting in the area, he announced earlier this summer that he is actively looking to get back into coaching.”
Ed Orgeron has been all over the place in his coaching career, but his ties to the West Coast and Los Angeles date back to his time with USC, when he was Pete Carroll's recruiting coordinator from 1998 to 2004. He returned to USC with Lane Kiffin and served in the same role from 2010 to 2013.
The most significant factor in hiring Orgeron is that he would be one of the more reasonably priced candidates for the job. He would also be the best choice to jumpstart UCLA from a recruiting standpoint, especially with NIL and revenue-sharing in full swing across the college sports landscape.
The downside of hiring Orgeron is that he has fizzled out at places and has been unable to maintain success. The most significant indicator was how his tenure at LSU worked out. His first few seasons were solid, and then, thanks to Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, and Ja'Marr Chase, he helped create arguably the best offense in college football history in 2019. However, two seasons later, LSU parted ways with Orgeron.
The good news about Orgeron is that, despite having time off, he said over the summer in an interview with Barstool Sports' “Pardon My Take” that he is itching to get back into coaching. With a revamped attitude and ties to the area, he could be precisely what the Bruins need.
