Ed Orgeron's Health Scare Has The LSU Family On Edge

Ed Orgeron is not walking through that door as a head coach again, but the news out of Baton Rouge this week had nothing to do with wins and losses. Coach O, hired back to LSU by Lane Kiffin in May as a special assistant for recruiting and defense, has been dealing with a health issue since mid-August serious enough to keep him away from practice and out of the building for LSU's first two games of the season.

Megan

@MeganMakinMoney

Love you @Coach_EdOrgeron get well soon! Tigers NEED you!!!

Hold The Mayo@snowlikejonn

sending love to @Coach_EdOrgeron

That's the vibe from the fan base right now. Coach O built a cult following at LSU that never went away after his firing in 2021 -- the accent, the energy, the 2019 national title -- and the second he's out of sight, people notice.

What actually made this a Barstool story was Coach O's own words. According to reporting on Kiffin's comments this week, Orgeron told his head coach flat out that he's never going to a hospital, and if he dies, he's dying on the field. It's the kind of line that's equal parts hilarious and terrifying coming from a 65-year-old dealing with something serious enough to sideline him for a month, and Barstool ran with it exactly how you'd expect.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

"I'm never going to the hospital. If I die, I'm dying on that field." – Coach O, who is currently battling unspecified health issues, is the most genuine football guy we have left

Kiffin, for his part, confirmed the scare was real. He said Orgeron is doing better but downplayed exactly how much better, calling the whole situation "a little bit scary" and noting Coach O still isn't back to full-time duty -- he's been showing up for parts of the day rather than the grind he used to put in. Kiffin also said he wasn't sure yet whether Orgeron would even make the trip when No. 7 LSU heads to No. 8 Ole Miss this weekend, a game with its own storyline given it's Kiffin's return to the program he used to coach.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Protect Coach O at all costs t.co/gGM5OVfUXt

No specifics on the diagnosis have been made public, and that's probably not changing anytime soon -- Kiffin and the program have kept the details private, which only fuels the concern. For now the update is as simple as it is unsettling: he's better than he was, he's not all the way back, and the guy himself would rather be on a football field than in a hospital bed regardless. Whether or not he makes it to Oxford this weekend, LSU fans and Barstool alike are just hoping Coach O gets all the way back to himself.