In 2005, then-Athletics Director Pete Boone had just parted ways with head football coach David Cutcliffe, who had the Rebels at 4-7 in 2004, just one year after a 10-3 campaign with Eli Manning. Cutcliffe’s recruiting had gone stale, and leadership thought it was time for a change.
This led them to Ed Orgeron, the defensive line coach at the University of Southern California.
Orgeron was an aggressive coach with no prior head-coaching experience, but he was with what was the greatest college football program at the time. The Trojans had just won back-to-back national titles under head coach Pete Carroll, so the thought of Ole Miss gaining a coach from this successful staff was appealing to Rebel fans.