Rumors have swirled in recent weeks that Ed Orgeron is in line to receive a contract extension after leading LSU to 9-3 and a Fiesta Bowl berth this season, but accord to LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva, no such talks have taken place yet.
Alleva did an interview with 104.5 ESPN’s “Off the Bench” on Tuesday morning and touched on a number of newsy topics, including a possible extension for Orgeron.
“Not yet,” Alleva replied when asked if such talks had occurred. “But I think we’ll probably. I said probably, but we haven’t had any yet. The season’s still not over yet.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
Here’s some other notable quotes from Alleva’s spot with Off the Bench, including the administrator’s thoughts on LSU landing in the Fiesta Bowl and some recent controversies involved the Southeastern Conference offices.
On how he evaluates success for the football program:
“It was a great year for LSU football considering what all the experts expected. Whenever you exceed expectations, that’s a good thing. There’s a lot of thing that go into evaluating the program and that’s things like recruiting, how the kids are doing in school. There’s all sorts of things that go into evaluating the football program and I think coach Orgeron and his staff have done a terrific job. They continue to do that out on the recruiting trail, motivating the players and reaching out to the fans and doing all sorts of community service. I think the program’s in good hands and headed in the right direction.”
On addressing controversies like the Devin White targeting call and the Texas A&M game with the SEC office:
“Well, I’ve talked to them a lot. I’ve talked to them more than I want to, I’ll tell you that much. Particularly after those both those events that you mentioned, I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone with the commissioner and Steve Shaw, the head of officials. I hate that. I hate that we’ve had those problems, but I think bringing it to their attention and talking about it, I think — I’m just going to speculate — I believe there’ll be some changes in the way communication is done and the way that they explain things from the conference office. I think that those things are coming very quickly. I think they realize that there needs to be more transparency and I think they realized they probably need to communicate a little bit better. So, we’ll see.”
On the respective decisions made by Greedy Williams and Devin White to skip and play in the Fiesta Bowl, respectively:
“I think the most important thing we can do for our student-athletes is just be honest with them and just tell them the truth. There’s no question that Greedy is going to be a top draft pick. Same with Devin. But there is also a handful of kids that will not be high draft picks and they probably are better off staying in school trying to improve their shot, so when they get their first contract, they can make a lot more money. All we can try to do is get as much information as we can from the pros and the scouts and the general managers and be as totally honest with them as we can. I think that’s our job. And that’s what Ed his staff are trying to do. Just lay it out to the kids as honest as we can be and let them make their decision.”
On “The Chute” and the possibility of expanding the concept:
“Well, we got a great response from our fans. Everything was really positive. In fact, we’re looking to try and create a couple of mini-chutes around the stadium. And I think we’re actually going to create a couple of spots around the baseball stadium, too, where people may be able to buy an adult beverage. I think that’s important for our fan experience, for those fans that like to have an adult beverage. I think that it’s good, and we’re going to try and keep expanding in our venues around and see where we can be creative in that regard.”
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