Orgeron fires Canada

Published 7:00 pm Saturday, January 6, 2018

The worst-kept secret in Louisiana is now official.

LSU’s Matt Canada is out as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator, the school announced Friday night.

“As the head coach, you have to make tough decisions,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said in the school’s official release. “I chose to go in a different direction in order to get where I believe we need to be as a program.”

LSU said financial details of the long-rumored split would be forthcoming, but The Advocate of Baton Rouge reported that Canada, who would have been owed $3.3 million for the two remaining years of his contract as the highest paid offensive coordinator in college football, agreed to a settlement that will pay him $1.7 million to go away.

The Advocate also reported that the $1.7 million would be guaranteed and not offset by any salary Canada might get from a future employer.

That figures to work out for Canada, who’s scripted high-powered offenses at most of his numerous coaching stops.

He was hired with great fanfare by Orgeron, fresh off directing a productive offense at Pittsburgh last season, shortly after Orgeron got the LSU head coaching job full-time late last November. 

But there were reportedly differences between Orgeron and Canada almost from the beginning, coming to a head during LSU’s 24-21 upset loss to Troy.

Orgeron admitted that for that game he requested that Canada tone down the basics of his offense — the numerous shifts and motions around the jet sweeps in the attack — but gave him back the keys to his offense in the second half when the Tigers came up short.

The next week Athletic Director Joe Alleva sat down with the head coach and coordinator for a heart-to-heart talk and they coexisted well enough to win six of the final seven regular-season games before losing to Notre Dame in the Citrus Bowl on Monday.

“I want to thank Matt for his contribution here at LSU and wish him and his family the best,” Orgeron said in the school’s release. “We have mutually agreed to part ways and go in a different direction offensively but are always grateful for the time and effort Matt made here at LSU.”

Even after the apparent post-Troy accord, however, Orgeron, whose background is defense, often expressed frustration in LSU’s offense during the season.

After the last regular-season game, a victory over Texas A&M, Orgeron raised suspicions when, unsolicited, he mentioned that Canada might be seeking a head coaching job and wish him well.

Canada’s name never came up in the many head coaching jobs that came up throughout the country.

“We will identify a coach with a wealth of experience who is totally committed to the vision of the program and has the drive to do whatever it takes to see it through,” Orgeron said of his search for a successor.

Among the candidates would be LSU tight ends coach Steve Ensminger, a longtime friend of Orgeron’s who took over the coordinator role last year when Orgeron was named interim coach and fired then-coordinator Cam Cameron.

Ensminger maintained last year that he was not interested in the job full-time.

Orgeron was in danger of losing both of his coordinators, but LSU stepped up Wednesday to give defensive whiz kid Dave Aranda a raise to $2.5 million in a four-year contract that upped what was already the biggest contract for a NCAA assistant coach and held off overtures from Texas A&M to hire him.