LOS ANGELES -- Pat Haden can stop his coaching search now.

He can put that $6 million annual salary in his back pocket and save it for a rainy day.

That sexy coach USC was supposed to hire this offseason?

It turns out he has always been right in front of them.

With that unmistakable Cajun drawl and infectious personality that has intoxicated the entire university, Ed Orgeron has improbably turned the Trojans around and, almost as improbably, earned the opportunity to become the team's next full-time head coach.

Orgeron was engulfed in a sea of cardinal-and-gold-clad fans on the field after USC upset No. 4 Stanford, 20-17, Saturday night at the Coliseum. It was an unprecedented show of support for the team and coach by a fan base that had become so apathetic with the product on the field that the Coliseum was half-empty two months ago, with a majority of those fans booing and calling for the coach's job.

Ed Orgeron has been a breath of fresh air for USC, and his latest accomplishment -- Saturday's stunning win over No. 4 Stanford -- has endeared him to the Trojans faithful even more. Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

Fast-forward six weeks and USC's band is playing songs dedicated to the Trojans' coach, while fans do card stunts at halftime professing their love for him. Forget sexy -- "Coach O" has quickly become the most popular figure on campus and turned what was going to be a difficult decision for Haden, the USC athletic director, into a no-brainer with two games left in the regular season.

Before the fourth quarter began Saturday, the entire USC team gathered around Orgeron on the sideline. He didn't call the players over. He didn't have any messages for them. They simply wanted to surround their coach and let him know they would be playing as one, as he had asked them to do when he was first named the interim head coach.

"When you have a father figure like Coach O come in here and take us under his wings and treat us like his own, we just want to run through a brick wall for him," USC linebacker Hayes Pullard said. "He didn't call us out; we just went up there as one team, one heartbeat. He said that the first day and we just wanted to carry that over."

On USC's winning drive, facing a fourth-and-2 on the Stanford 48-yard line, Orgeron called a timeout to decide what he wanted to do. When his offensive players gathered around him, he knew the call he had to make.

"I knew I was a taking a chance, but I looked in these guys' eyes and I knew they wanted to go for it, and I knew they wanted to win the game," Orgeron said. "I wanted to give them a chance as a coach and give them what they wanted."

USC wide receiver Marqise Lee, who suffered a shin injury earlier in the game, hobbled back onto the field and told USC quarterback Cody Kessler that he had one more catch in him -- then ended up snagging a 13-yard pass for a first down before he was helped off the field. Moments later, Andre Heidari, who earlier Saturday missed an extra-point attempt, kicked the 47-yard winning field goal.

After the game, as players and fans surrounded Orgeron, he began to cry as he hugged them and told them how much he loved them.

"Coach O is very unique," Kessler said. "There's no one in the country like him that I've seen or that I've met. I speak for the whole team, we absolutely love him. He's awesome. He's amazing. He has that look in his eye when he's talking to you that you can see that he really, really does care. He really gets emotional and he really puts everything he has in this team and he wants us to succeed so much. When I gave him a hug, I saw his eyes water up because he just cares so much and he loves us so much, and we feel the same way about him."

As the Trojans enjoyed their biggest home win since Pete Carroll was roaming the sidelines, a long list of four- and five-star recruits watched from afar with smiles on their faces that grew even wider as they walked in and out of the USC locker room.