Over the past week, serious hazing allegations surfaced surrounding the Northwestern Wildcats football program, resulting in the school dismissing head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
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With the college football season just over a month away, the university is hunting for a new head coach. Whom could they be interested in? Who could be interested in them?
Former LSU head coach Ed "Coach O" Orgeron reportedly "would have interest" if the program reached out to him, according to Bradley Locker of InsideNU.
Former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron “would have interest” in the Northwestern job if the Wildcats go after him, @Bradley_Locker reports.
Coach O making a comeback? 👀https://t.co/VFhUNgc6ho pic.twitter.com/Z2MAxsowfB
— On3 (@On3sports) July 12, 2023
Conflicting Reports on Ed Orgeron's Availability
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Since this report, however, there have been conflicting reports on Orgeron's interest.
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and Fox Sports says there's "no truth" to reports of Orgeron's interest. Feldman claims his source is Orgeron himself.
Spoke to Ed Orgeron. There is no truth to the report that he has any interest in the Northwestern coaching job nor has he heard from anyone at Northwestern.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 13, 2023
Should the report be true, Northwestern would get a head coach who most recently coached the LSU Tigers from 2016-2021, including a national championship in 2019. He and LSU agreed to part ways after back-to-back .500 seasons in 2020 and 2021. Despite his early success thanks to the likes of Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, and Ja'Marr Chase, Orgeron wasn't able to keep the momentum going following the team's national title.
The Wildcats had Fitzgerald since 2001, when he was a defensive backs coach, taking a job with his alma mater as a former two-time All-American for the program. He had been the head coach since 2006, leading the Wildcats to nine winning seasons, including three double-digit-victory seasons. However, disturbing details and accounts regarding hazing within the program led to Fitzgerald's dismissal earlier this week.
If you've followed college football, you can imagine that an Orgeron and Northwestern culture pairing would be pretty, uh, odd, to say the least — but we're here for it if it happens.
Ed Orgeron is ready to go to war. pic.twitter.com/MX2yPsmoFQ
— Justin Walters (@JustinWaltersTV) January 13, 2020
