Violent behavior behind me, says new Ole Miss coach

[DJRamFan]

Dec. 17, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports

OXFORD, Miss. -- New Mississippi coach Ed Orgeron was charged with repeated domestic violence more than a decade ago when he was an assistant at Miami, according to records obtained Friday by the Associated Press.

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Background checks were conducted on Orgeron and other candidates, chancellor Robert Khayat said at a news conference introducing Orgeron as the Rebels' coach. Athletic director Pete Boone said school officials are aware of the coach's history.

"Many years ago coach Orgeron had a very unpleasant experience that involved behavior he is not proud of," Khayat said at Thursday's news conference. "Pete Boone, the athletics committee and I are totally comfortable and confident that coach Orgeron is going to provide the kind of role model that we want for our program."

Orgeron, hired this week to replace David Cutcliffe at Ole Miss, had a restraining order filed against him by a Dade County, Fla., woman who accused him of repeated violence 13 years ago, said Robert Keen, a supervisor with the Dade County clerk's office.

The charge of repeat violence was filed on April 10, 1991, and a restraining order was filed the next month, records show. Keen told the AP that records also show Orgeron did not violate that order.


Ed Orgeron says his past mistakes are 'no longer part of my daily living.' (AP)
The woman later received a permanent injunction, Keen said, and the court order prohibited him from going to her home or workplace. The injunction was terminated in July 1992, Keen said.

"All I'm going to say is this: I'm completely comfortable with the steps I've taken to correct the mistakes in my life, and they're no longer part of my daily living," Orgeron said Thursday in Oxford.

Orgeron also was involved in a 1992 incident in which he reportedly head-butted the manager of a nightclub in Baton Rouge, La., several newspapers reported.

Felony second-degree battery charges were dropped when the manager settled out of court, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Orgeron was fired at Miami after that incident. He spent a year away from football before resuming his coaching career in 1994 at Nicholls State.

Orgeron met his wife, Kelly, in 1996. The couple has three children.

Khayat's secretary said he was out of town Friday, and Boone did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

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