LSU fired head coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, the school confirmed on Sunday in the wake of the Tigers' 18-13 loss to Auburn that came down to the final second.
Former Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron, who had been working as LSU's defensive line coach, has been named the interim head coach. Miles was 114-34 at LSU since being hired in 2006, and the Tigers won the national championship for the 2007 season despite two losses.
"Decisions like this are never easy ones to make," LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said in a statement. "Coach Miles has done a tremendous job here and he's been a great ambassador for our University, which makes this even more difficult.
"However, it's apparent in evaluating the program through the first month of the season that a change has to be made. Our commitment to excellence and competing at the highest level is unwavering, and our goals for the remainder of this season haven't changed. We have an obligation to our student-athletes to put them in the best position to have success on the football field each week and we have great confidence that coach Orgeron will do just that."
The Advocate's Ross Dellenger was the first to report the news. Miles' buyout is in the neighborhood of $10 million. Steve Ensminger, a one-time Auburn assistant, will be the Tigers' offensive coordinator, per Fox Sports. LSU said in a statement that Orgeron would announce his new staff assignments on Monday.
The Tigers started the season 2-2, with the offense stagnating in losses to Wisconsin and Auburn. LSU made a quarterback change, going from former highly-touted recruit Brandon Harris to Purdue transfer Danny Etling in the second game. Etling almost led LSU to a stunning last-second win on Saturday night only for officials to reverse the initial touchdown call, giving Auburn the win.
LSU dropped out of both top 25 polls following the loss to Auburn. The program started the season as a consensus top 10 team and a popular pick to win the SEC West.
News started to trickle in to players. Running back Nick Brossette tweeted that the only reason he came to LSU was because of Miles. LSU defensive back commit Kary Vincent tweeted that he wasn't going anywhere despite the news.
Rumors of Miles' demise started last season after the Tigers lost three straight following a 7-0 start. LSU finished the regular season with a win over Texas A&M and Miles' job was saved. The Tigers finished 9-3 with a Texas Bowl win.
NOLA.com's Ron Higgins wrote this column postgame calling for Miles to be fired.