The USC Trojans will be looking for their next head coach this offseason. Since firing Lane Kiffin earlier this season, the Trojans have been the highest-profile job available and just about every hot name in coaching has been attached to it. The school is reportedly ready to throw money at the position to make a big-splash hire to get USC back to its place of prominence in the Pac-12 but they already have a coach on the sideline who has accomplished just that.
Since taking over as interim head coach, Ed Orgeron is 5-1 with the Trojans. A team that looked undisciplined and disinterested in at the beginning of the year under Kiffin is invested now, playing hard and overcoming a continuing plague of injuries throughout the depth chart. Coach O has revived a roster that many left for dead earlier in the season, punctuated by their physical effort this weekend when they upset the then-No. 5 Stanford Cardinal earning their way back into the BCS standings at No. 23.
Perhaps more importantly, USC is in the thick of the Pac 12 South division race. They sit just one game back of the Arizona State Sun Devils, tied with the UCLA Bruins and have an opportunity to get back on top of the Pac 12 this season if they can sneak into the title game. After the way they were run off the table by ASU earlier this season in Tempe, there wasn’t anybody who predicted they would be in the mix in late November but Orgeron rallied this team to get them here.
When asked about the job in the lead-up to the Stanford game, Orgeron said all the right things, saying that he was only focused on beating Stanford (mission accomplished) and that he was putting his resume on tape with the Trojans’ remaining games in 2013. With what he’s accomplished with the same depleted roster that got Kiffin canned, what more does Orgeron need to do to get the USC job on a permanent basis?
You can follow me on Twitter @Teeblerone, on Facebook and on Google
Related Links
USC Trojan Football: Ed Orgeron Making His Case as Head Coach Candidate
USC Trojans’ Nightmare Season Turns Around After Win Over Stanford Cardinal
USC Trojans Regain National Relevance In Upset of Stanford Cardinal