If it was up to Ed Orgeron, Lane Kiffin would be LSU's offensive coordinator right now. It was Kiffin that Orgeron alluded to when he said at his introductory press conference back in late November of 2016, "We're going to look at recruiting the best offensive coordinator in football and bring him to LSU."
However, Charlie Partridge was fired at Florida Atlantic the next day and the rest is history. With Kiffin off the table, Orgeron turned to then-Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Matt Canada in a deal that was every bit a shotgun marriage gone bad. Neither side fully grasped what they were getting in the other, and the philosophies between head coach and offensive coordinator mixed like peanut butter and gasoline. In early January, LSU paid Canada $1.7 million to release him from his duties as the Tigers' offensive coordinator.
So with all that history in mind, let's take a gander at what Kiffin had to say in an interview with Baton Rouge's ESPN Radio affiliate on Thursday. Appearing on Off the Bench, Kiffin said on Wednesday he had watched the Citrus Bowl game between Notre Dame and LSU as part of his offseason self-education course. "We actually, last offseason, sent our defensive staff there with Coach O and Dave Aranda and they spent some time there," Kiffin said. "I'm grateful to LSU to help our guys. And then Coach O sent their offensive staff here. Obviously, I didn't help very much."
After the laughter died down, Kiffin went back in for more. "I just watched that bowl game, watching LSU's offense, and I left Orgeron a message. I said, 'Hey, did you have a bonus in the contract for your offensive coordinator for every shift he got extra money?'"
The radio hosts laughed, but there's no way they laughed harder than Ed Oregon himself.