LSU assistant coach Ed Orgeron is on the mend after a health issue kept him away from preseason work and the Tigers’ first two games, according to Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin said Monday that Orgeron is “doing better” after the issue began in mid-August. On Aug. 17, Kiffin said he had sent Orgeron home from practice because he “wasn’t feeling real well.”
Orgeron, who is serving as a special assistant for recruiting and defense, has not been seen at Tiger Stadium for LSU’s first two games of 2026, a 51-10 win over Clemson and a 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech.
“It was a little bit scary,” Kiffin said, though he did not specify what the health issue was.
The two coaches go back more than 20 years. They were both on Pete Carroll’s staff at Southern Cal from 2001-04, and Orgeron later worked for Kiffin at Tennessee in 2009 and at USC from 2010-13. Orgeron also took over USC as interim coach after Kiffin was fired.
Kiffin brought Orgeron onto the LSU staff in May on a one-year, $100,000 deal. Over the past four months, Orgeron has helped the Tigers with high school recruiting and with coaching defensive linemen.
Their connection also stretches to Ole Miss, where Orgeron served as head coach from 2005-07 and Kiffin later coached from 2020-25.
“He means a lot to me,” Kiffin said. “We’ve just been through a lot.
He probably shouldn’t have joked one day. He said, ‘Hey coach, you know I’m never going to the hospital.
If I die, I’m dying on the field out there.’
“That’s who he is. That’s how he is with everything, and sometimes that’s not always the best thing to follow.”
Orgeron, 65, led LSU from 2016-21 and guided the Tigers to a 15-0 season and a national championship in 2019. LSU fired him during the 2021 season and replaced him with Brian Kelly.
Kiffin said Orgeron is spending part of his weekdays at LSU’s football operations building. Asked Monday whether Orgeron will travel with the Tigers for Saturday’s game at Ole Miss, Kiffin said “we haven’t gotten that far yet.”
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