LSU hires Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Canada for same role

Ed Orgeron made an addition to his coaching staff on Wednesday morning as LSU formally hired Matt Canada as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator.

Rumors of Canada heading down to the bayou had been circulating for the last few weeks following Orgeron’s hire as well as the hiring of Lane Kiffin as FAU’s head coach. Kiffin had been one of the targets for the role, as well as Canada and former Oregon Ducks head coach Mark Helfrich. But in the end, it’s Canada who lands the job.

Canada has been a coach at the college level since 1994. He started at Indiana before making stops at Butler and Northern Illinois and then returned back to the Hoosiers in 2004. Following a six year stay in Bloomington, Canada went back to Dekalb to be the Huskies’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and then went up to Wisconsin in 2012 for the same position.

Following a year in Madison, Canada went down to Raleigh and joined the North Carolina State coaching staff for the same position, and prior to being appointed at LSU, he had been the Pitt Panthers’ offensive coordinator. Canada was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award in 2016, an honor given out to the top assistant coach in the country.

While Canada isn’t Kiffin or even Helfrich, the job he did at Pitt was more than commendable based on merits and statistics. He will have to be inventive and creative against the top-tier SEC defenses, but if things go sourly, everyone can always just blame Canada: