Coach O, Joe Burrow And The LSU Tigers

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Scott Rabalais, Sports Columnist for the Baton Rouge Advocate, has written:

Two Februarys ago, Ed Orgeron returned to his native Larose for a banquet. He made what sounded like an audacious promise:

“I’m going to get some negative comments,” Orgeron said only a few weeks after going from LSU’s interim to permanent coach. “I’m not everyone’s first, second or third choice. But I got the job, and I’m going to work day and night to get this program back on top.

“Some of the naysayers will laugh about this, but in a very short period of time, LSU will be back in the SEC championship game and in the (College Football Playoff) final four series for the national championship. I promise you that.”

Saturday night in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Orgeron and his Tigers made good on his vow, defeating Georgia 37-10 for LSU’s first Southeastern Conference championship since 2011, and looking to the horizon for even more riches.

And naysayers? They’re looking for someone else to bash. Someone not named Ed Orgeron, who is now 9-1 in his past 10 games against top-10 opponents.

This championship wasn’t won with luck. It was a combination of things: Orgeron’s guts to remake LSU’s offensive culture, to hire Joe Brady to turbocharge the offense and to recruit Joe Burrow to shine it to a high gloss. It wasn’t won by backing into it with some other team or teams crumbling unexpectedly.

LSU went out and beat everyone in its path for 13 Saturdays this season. Few championships have ever been more deserved.

When Les Miles led LSU to the 2007 BCS national championship, overcoming a pair of triple-overtime losses along the way, detractors said he did it by just taking Nick Saban’s program and keeping it on auto pilot. That was unfair, but it was also a stigma Miles never quite shook.

There are a few key players still on LSU’s roster recruited under Miles — seniors like defensive end Rashard Lawrence and left tackle Saahdiq Charles and fourth-year junior center Lloyd Cushenberry. But in large part because of Burrow and Brady, and the offensive vision Miles would not embrace, no one is saying this title isn’t of Orgeron’s creation. Crafted by his touch.

The coach Ole Miss and Southern California once cast off is now in his natural habitat, leading his home state’s team to glory in the sport Louisiana loves like no other. Making a bunch of guys from a state ranked 48th in this and 49th in that the best in the nation’s toughest conference. And, quite arguably, the best team in the nation, period.

“I love that guy,” Burrow said amid postgame streamers and title T-shirts. “If you don’t want to fight for him, something’s wrong with you.”

They fought for him, all right, a guy dug out of the Louisiana swamps with a voice, as ESPN’s Rece Davis said, that sounds like it came from inside a cement mixer.

Orgeron is Louisiana, and Louisiana is him. Swamp water courses in his veins. And doesn’t it mean a little more to LSU fans to have a coach who could be one of them, working on an oil rig or a shrimp boat, than someone who came from West Virginia via Michigan for a business opportunity?

Orgeron’s Tigers leave here with a trophy and confetti in their hair and seeking more glory. The final College Football Playoff rankings are released at 11 a.m. Sunday on ESPN, and one defies the CFP committee not to rank LSU No. 1.

The Tigers now have wins over current CFP teams ranked No. 4, No. 9, No. 11 and No. 12. Two of those wins — Georgia here, in what was essentially a home game for the Bulldogs in Mercedes-Benz Stadium — and at Alabama, over teams ranked in the top five at the time. Ohio State might pass some sort of purely subjective eye test, but LSU has an unmatched résumé.

And emboldened in victory as you can expect, they’re ready to take on all comers in their CFP semifinal, whether it’s back here in the Peach Bowl or back in Arizona in the Fiesta.

“You can take us to Canada, and we’ll play on a gravel lot,” Burrow said. “It doesn’t matter where or who we play.”

One thing that definitely doesn’t matter: what any other Heisman Trophy contenders do in the face of the magnum opus Burrow finished off Saturday.

Against the nation’s No. 2-ranked defense, which had not allowed more than 20 points or 343 yards in any game this season, Burrow went off for 406 total yards (349 passing, 57 rushing) and four touchdowns. His double-duck scramble around Georgia defensive end Travon Walker to hit Justin Jefferson with a 71-yard pass in the third quarter is a Heisman moment for the ages.

“It was all improvised,” Burrow said. “Justin ran a 6-yard hitch route and saw me scrambling and took off deep. We’ve got a great feel for each other. I knew exactly where he was going to be when I got out of there.”

Last season, Orgeron famously put another memorable quote out there about what he saw as the inevitable rise of his LSU program.

“We’re comin’,” Coach O said. “And we ain’t backing down.”

LSU has arrived, at least to this point, undefeated and unbowed. After what is sure to be a week of awards for Burrow and Orgeron and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase for a start, the Tigers begin their quest for a CFP national title.

“We’ve got two more games to play,” Orgeron said, referring to a CFP semifinal and the national title game in New Orleans. “So we’re getting to work tomorrow.”

Another bold statement from Orgeron. Based on Saturday’s results, it’s hard to second-guess him.[2]

Regardless of what happens in the next two games, Coach O has proved himself, and vindicated the judgment of lots of us—especially cross-town rival UCLA alums and fans—that USC made a huge mistake in letting him go.

With his Cajun accent that is difficult to understand at times, he’s a winner who has brought great joy to LSU, its alums and fans, and to the state of Louisiana.  And yes, LSU is ranked number one in the nation as this article goes to press.

Go Coach O, Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers, all the way!

 

 

© 2019, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (see www.naegele.com and https://naegeleblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/timothy-d.-naegele-resume-20-1-1.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_252da048-1947-11ea-a13f-8b58a378ed24.html (“Rabalais: LSU’s SEC title delivers on first half of Ed Orgeron’s bold promise”); see also https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/lsu/2019/12/05/ed-orgeron-lsu-football-coach-louisiana-native-leads-undefeated-tigers/4277712002/ (“LIKE THE ROUGAROU, THE INFAMOUS SWAMP MONSTER OF LOUISIANA LORE, LSU HEAD COACH ED ORGERON HAS SEEMINGLY SNUCK UP ON THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD”—”‘Finally we have a coach that doesn’t have an accent'”)

Is Financial Reform Simply Washington’s Latest Boondoggle?

By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

When I arrived in Washington, D.C. after graduating from law school in California, I spent two years at the Pentagon working as an Army officer in intelligence and budgets.  It was a great experience, and I have the utmost respect for our military, which is the best of our government.  One lesson I learned was that if Congress was breathing down the Pentagon’s neck, the easiest way to deal with the issue was to “reorganize,” which would throw them off the track—and the “bloodhounds” would lose the scent.

Then I worked on Capitol Hill as a young attorney with the Senate Banking Committee, and realized that when there was a national policy issue that was “too hot to handle,” a presidential commission would be formed, not unlike reorganizations at the Pentagon.  Months and sometimes years would pass while people studied the issues ad nauseam; and in the interim, the monkey was off the politicians’ backs.  One of my first tasks on the Hill was to staff such a presidential commission.

Fast-forward to today, and no regulatory “overhaul” is going to make a tinker’s damn in preventing future economic crises or solving the present one.  By and large, the financial regulatory agencies (e.g., the Fed, the FDIC) do a fine job, often under very difficult circumstances.  There are career professionals who will keep doing their jobs, regardless of what Barack Obama or Congress propose or enact—which is high political theater and demagoguery, and not a whole lot more.

Recent reorganizations, such as in the intelligence community, have not produced better intelligence.  Similarly, changes to the financial regulatory structure will not prevent the economic meltdown that riveted the nation in 2008, and continues to this day.  It is a tsunami, and Man’s ability to stop or affect it is marginal at best.  Reorganizing the deck chairs on the Titanic, or closing the barn door after the horse is out, will never address future problems.  The flim-flam boys of Wall Street and other financial capitals will make sure of that.

Alan Greenspan unleashed the tsunami; and the words of Giulio Tremonti, Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, are true and cogent to this day:

Greenspan was considered a master.  Now we must ask ourselves whether he is not, after [Osama] bin Laden, the man who hurt America the most.[2]

No financial regulatory overhaul will prevent a Fed chairman like Greenspan, or some other government official from making mistakes that produce massive suffering domestically and globally.  Perhaps if Paul Volcker had been in charge of the Fed instead of Greenspan, the economic meltdown would have been avoided.  After all, Greenspan admitted in testimony before the House that he never saw the housing crisis coming.

Like the emperor with no clothes in Hans Christian Andersen’s fable, no one was willing to call Greenspan a buffoon who was over his head—until he had unleashed economic pain, the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression.  It will continue to the end of this decade, in all likelihood; and there is nothing that government can do to stem it.[3]

With respect to the existing financial regulatory agencies, it must be remembered that they and their affiliated agencies (e.g., the FSLIC, RTC) dealt effectively with the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s.  In the process, almost 800 S&Ls failed, an enormous financial crisis was averted, and the ultimate cost to the taxpayers was less than expected.

Nonetheless, in 1999, Congress repealed the Glass–Steagall Act, which had controlled financial speculation since its enactment in 1933.[4] Under Glass–Steagall, there had been a separation between commercial banking and “investment banking”—or gambling by Wall Street.  Coupled with Greenspan’s mistakes and financial deregulation, which had been championed by him, a laissez faire attitude in Washington resulted in the massive problems of today.

Can greed on Wall Street and in other financial markets be stopped?  Never.  Can the SEC do a better job?  Can the existing financial regulatory agencies tighten up here and there, and do their jobs better with enhanced powers?  Sure, but the system is not perfect just as human beings are not perfect.  Utopia is not possible; and history repeats itself over and over again.  More government regulation will not prevent economic tsunamis and meltdowns from happening.  Anyone who says so might try to sell you a bridge in Brooklyn next—or ObamaCare.[5][6]

Yet, capitulation to political demogoguery and public anger is likely.[7] With the repeal of Glass–Steagall and financial deregulation, a blurring of the lines between commercial banking and investment banking took place; and now the chickens are coming home to roost.  The baby is in the process of being thrown out with the bath water; and the demogogues in Washington are strutting in full bloom.[8] A Wall Street Journal editorial states:

While the details matter a great deal, the essence of the exercise is to transfer more control over credit allocation and the financial industry to the federal government. The industry was heavily regulated before—not that it stopped the mania and panic—but if anything close to the current bills pass, the biggest banks will become the equivalent of utilities.

The irony is that this may, or may not, reduce the risk of future financial meltdowns and taxpayer bailouts.

. . .

As in health care, Democrats are intent on ramming this reform through Congress, and Republicans ought to summon the will to resist. Absent that, the only certain result is that Washington will be the new master of the financial universe.

Amen, and then some![9]

© 2010, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass), the first black senator since Reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War.  He practices law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates (www.naegele.com).  He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He is a member of the District of Columbia and California bars.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal.  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years.  See, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles

[2] See http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/173_212/-365185-1.html

[3] See, e.g., http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/tms/politics/2009/Apr/08/euphoria_or_the_obama_depression_.html and http://www.philstockworld.com/2009/10/11/greenspan’s-legacy-more-suffering-to-come/; see also http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes

[4] See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass–Steagall_Act

[5] Harvard professor Niall Ferguson and Wall Street investor Ted Forstmann state in a Wall Street Journal article:

By all means let us regulate the derivatives market—beginning with a reform that makes it a real market. And let’s clamp down on excessive bank leverage. But let us not believe we can abolish both bailouts and depressions, other than by creating another layer of government regulation.

See http://www.naegele.com/documents/BacktoBasicsonFinancialReform.pdf

I agree with their conclusion.

[6] See also https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-great-depression-ii/

[7] See, e.g., http://www.naegele.com/documents/AScoldingforWallStreetHonchos.pdf; see also http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704830404575200580858688618.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLEThirdNews

[8] Real problems with the legislation may be considerable.  See, e.g., http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703876404575199582764862248.html

[9] See http://www.naegele.com/documents/TheNewMasterofWallStreet.pdf