News: LSU and Coach Ed Orgeron Have Reached Settlement Agreement, Part Ways Following 2021 Season

Tigers and Orgeron will part ways following the completion of 2021 season according to Sports Illustrated

Ed Orgeron's time as the LSU football coach will soon come to an end. It was a move that seemed inevitable but the Tigers and Orgeron have reached a settlement agreement that will keep Orgeron in Baton Rouge through the 2021 season. 

Following the completion of the 2021 season, Orgeron and LSU will part ways according to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated.

Orgeron is 49-17 at #LSU but is 9-8 since the championship. However, this goes beyond on-field results.

A strained relationship between coach & administration - rooted in team management & public/private behavior - has warped into an untenable situation, distrust & outbursts.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 17, 2021

The last two seasons have gone about as bad as possible for the LSU program after the 2019 championship run. The Tigers have gone just 9-8 over the last 17 contests as lack of development, execution and poor coaching decisions have all played a hand in Orgeron and the program moving on. 

Over his five year tenure as the Tigers' coach, Orgeron adopted phrases like 'block out the noise' as well as daily focuses like 'Tell the Truth Monday' or 'Competition Tuesday.' But over the last two seasons it was nearly impossible to block out the outside noise that surrounded the program with what was happening on the field. 

Throughout the week, Orgeron had reiterated numerous times that there were no discussions with the athletic administration about his job status.

"I can go in and read everything you guys write, I could take about an hour and read that stuff and tell them about it. I don't listen to all that stuff," Orgeron said. "The best thing for me to do is be very positive, understand the expectation at LSU. I will say this and say it again, no one has to tell me about the LSU expectation. I understand this is not the LSU standard of performance, I get it totally. I know exactly where I'm at and I'm going to work as hard as I can today and won't blink."

Orgeron will leave as the third straight coach to win a championship with the LSU program during his tenure, boasting a current record of 49-17, including that two year stretch in 2018-19 when the program went 25-3 capped off by a national championship. However college football is what have you done for me lately, and the following act to that 2019 season was a massive failure.

The coaching hire of Bo Pelini ahead of the 2020 season without interviewing him, losing players to the transfer portal and opt outs to the NFL draft due to a national pandemic and the uninspiring and quite frankly dumbfounding results on the field led to this decision for athletic director Scott Woodward.

With LSU suffering losses in abysmal fashion to Auburn and Kentucky in recent weeks, it just felt like this was an inevitability. Now Woodward will get to hand pick his own coach for the program and the possibilities will be fascinating to watch unfold. 

More updates to follow on this story.