[12/16/04]Fiery Southern Cal assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron said this morning that he plans to bring an aggressive, unpredictable style of football to Ole Miss and return the Rebels to national prominence.

“My goal is to get this team to the Sugar Bowl,” Orgeron (pronounced O-jah-ron) said to wild applause by onloookers at the Ole Miss indoor practice facility.

“This is a day of celebration at Ole Miss,” Chancellor Robert Khayat said at this morning’s press conference announcing Orgeron’s hiring.

Athletic director Pete Boone said he made four trips one to Florida, one to Dallas and two to California to meet with prospective coaches. He said he made only one offer.

“We made the offer to Ed Orgeron and he enthusiastically accepted,” Boone said.

Orgeron laid out his coaching philosophy in the opening minutes of his news conference:

He plans to build a top-rate defense that is geared to stopping the run.

“We will go after the ball at every opportunity,” he said.

His offense will be run out of multiple sets in an attempt to take advantage of opponents’ weaknesses.

“We will not be a predictable offensive team,” he said.

He plans to make the quarterback, which he would not say who would be, to be the centerpiece and the leader of the football team.

He will be a dogged recruiter that, “will not take no for an answer.”

He was considered one of the key recruiters at top-ranked Southern Cal, which plays No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the BCS title on Jan. 4. He won three national titles as an assistant two at Miami (1989 and 1991) and last year at USC. The Trojans split last year’s honors with LSU.

His recruiting classes have been ranked in the top 5 nationally the past three years and he was voted recruiter of the year by The Sporting News and rivals.com this season.

Orgeron will continue to coach Southern Cal throughout the Orange Bowl. He plans to start meeting with his staff this weekend in Oxford, then travel back to California next week for bowl preparations.

“I think it’s a good thing for Ole Miss to have their head coach coaching for the national championship on January 4,” he said to rousing applause.

Calling it “the biggest day of his life,” Orgeron said he woke up this morning in an Oxford hotel, turned to his wife and said, “we’re home.”

Orgeron’s hiring wraps up the school’s 15-day search for David Cutcliffe’s replacement. Cutcliffe was fired Dec. 1 after his first losing season in Oxford, and athletic director Boone and chancellor Khayat immediately became the point men in the search for a replacement.

Several coaches, including fired Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham, ex-Florida head man Ron Zook and Louisville’s Bobby Petrino had long been rumored to succeed Cutcliffe.

Ole Miss is known to have interviewed two other candidates Miami defensive coordinator Randy Shannon and, most recently, San Francisco 49ers coach Dennis Erickson.

School officials met with Erickson on Tuesday evening in Santa Clara, Calif., near the Niners’ practice facility. Erickson pulled out of the running Wednesday morning, and Orgeron Erickson’s defensive line coach during his tenure in Miami was hired later that day.

“We believe that he will provide the kind of leadership at Ole Miss that we can be proud of,” Khayat said.

ESPN.com reported this morning that Cutcliffe was hired at Notre Dame by new coach Charlie Weis and will assume offensive coordinator duties for the Irish. John Latina, who coached with Cutcliffe at Ole Miss, was hired as the offensive line coach at Notre Dame.

Cutcliffe was 44-29 in six seasons at Ole Miss, 25-23 in the SEC.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.