The great Ross Dellenger re-populated this tweet into his timeline over the weekend, and it's a great reminder at how shaky LSU's appointment of Ed Orgeron to the full-time head coaching position was viewed at the time.
LSU's 2019 national title run was anything but preordained. In fact, if the Tigers' decision-makers had listened to the conventional wisdom raining down upon them back in late November of 2016, it likely never would've happened at all.
We also got another reminder from one of O's former players. In a visit with Pro Football Talk, former LSU linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson shared the extreme lengths Orgeron went to secure his commitment. A 4-star recruit out of Houston in the class of 2017, Chaisson was down to LSU, Florida and Texas, who was hot on the trail after Tom Herman had chosen UT, thereby forcing LSU to "settle" for Orgeron. With crunch time approaching, Chaisson was a Texas lean heading into an official visit to Florida, but O didn't take no for an answer. The man arrived to the Chaisson residence for his official visit at four in the morning, then invited himself on the trip to the airport, pitching young K'Lavon the entire way. "I was like, ‘Coach we don’t have time for a home visit. We’re about to head out.’ Man, he came to my house at four in the morning knocking on the door while everybody’s asleep. He made sure he got his visit in."
"He literally followed me to the airport and walked me all the way through TSA and was like, ‘Bro, we got to have you. Please. I know what to do with you,’" Chaisson said.
As we know, Orgeron proved himself correct -- developing Chaisson into a national champion and an early entrant into next month's draft.
And to think, Orgeron did that for one player. Multiply that level of commitment times 85 over the course of a 35-year-and-counting career, and you begin to understand the legend that is Ed Orgeron.