Yahoo Finance LSU coach Ed Orgeron 'honored' to get congratulatory call from President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump rang up LSU coach Ed Orgeron after the team’s Peach Bowl victory over Oklahoma.
Orgeron confirmed during his Tuesday news conference ahead of LSU’s national title matchup with Clemson that he received a call from Trump on Monday. When Orgeron heard there was a call from the president, he said he first thought that outgoing LSU president F. King Alexander was calling him and was surprised that Trump was wanting to speak to him.
“They told me the president's office called, and I thought it was the president of the university,” Orgeron said when he was told of the incoming call. “He said, no, the White House. I said, OK, here we go.”
Orgeron said he was honored that Trump would call him after the game. There have been no reports that Trump called Clemson coach Dabo Swinney after the Fiesta Bowl.
“I was very honored to get a call from President Trump,” Orgeron said. “He was very pleasant to talk to, very complimentary of our football team, our coaching staff, complimentary of the way the state of Louisiana has rallied around us, and was complimentary to the way we played all year and wished us good luck in the game.”
Trump is popular in Louisiana, a state that he’ll happily remind you he easily carried in the 2016 presidential election. But Orgeron is friends with Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who beat the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Eddie Rispone in an election in October. Orgeron even introduced Edwards at an April fundraiser.
Edwards famously waited until the end of LSU’s game against Florida to make his victory speech.
There have been no announcements from the White House if Trump is planning to attend LSU’s game against Clemson on Jan. 13 in New Orleans. He’s already been to LSU’s game against Alabama this season. Trump also went to the national title game between Alabama and Georgia in January of 2018 and was on the field for the national anthem.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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