What Ed Orgeron thought of an ‘outstanding’ Notre Dame football practice
It’s like Ed Orgeron felt at home again.
The first thing that stood out to the former LSU head coach while attending a Notre Dame football practice Tuesday morning was Irish offensive line coach Harry Hiestand doing his thing. What’s that? Exuding animation. Energy. Noise. All things synonymous with Orgeron’s own coaching style.
“I walked down the hall and heard (Hiestand) getting after it early in the morning,” Orgeron said. “I like that, to be able to see the physicality they have here.”
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Orgeron surveyed the entire Irish practice. He said he’ll be in South Bend all week taking the scene in. He’s currently out of coaching after he was replaced at LSU by former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. Orgeron’s tie to current Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and his no-rush approach to getting back into coaching afforded him the opportunity to be around the team this week.
Still at LSU at the time, Orgeron, 60, tried to hire Freeman from Cincinnati after the 2020 season. Freeman chose to be the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame instead. As Orgeron noted during a three and a half minute media session with South Bend reporters, Freeman likely “made the right decision.”
It appeared Orgeron tried to stay as out of the way as possible, but at one point he was on the field outside the Irish Athletic Center watching the Notre Dame defensive linemen go through tackling drills.
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“I wanted to jump in the drill,” he said. “I had to keep telling myself to get back.”
Orgeron said it became evident early Notre Dame is a “very good football team.” He called the practice “outstanding.” He wasn’t just there to show his face at a place that, outside of his connection to Freeman via an interview process just over a year ago, is actually quite random. Southern coaches generally don’t like going to places where they have to wear Patagonia jackets on April 12, right?
This wasn’t a guy who didn’t want to be there, though. Rather, one who relished the opportunity. Orgeron’s first words before standing in front of the assembled media entourage? “All right, this is pretty cool!” Then he stuck around late after the practice ended. He had what appeared to be a fairly intensive conversation with Notre Dame defensive ends Rylie Mills and Alexander Ehrensberger, all after addressing the team in one large group setting.
The national championship winning coach’s message? One Notre Dame players have already had ingrained in their heads from the moment they stepped on campus.
“The expectations are one goal and one goal only,” Orgeron said. “That’s what I told the team. The standard of performance has to be very high.”
