Barring some last minute snag, for the second consecutive season, the Pitt football program is likely to lose its offensive coordinator to an SEC program.
Multiple sources tonight tell Pittsburgh Sports Now that Matt Canada will, in all likelihood, be offered and will accept the vacant LSU offensive coordinator’s position.
This is a tough blow to Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt football program because of what Canada’s system produced this season becoming the highest scoring team in Pitt history (508 points).
This past season, Pitt’s offense averaged 42.3 points per game (10th in the country) and was the only Power 5 team in the country to score at least 28 points in every game. Canada was able to do this with a balanced attack, gaining 2,757 yards on the ground and 2,613 yards in the air.
The 44-year old was making in the neighborhood of $500,000 at Pitt but I’m hearing will make over $1 million at LSU and could possibly triple his salary.
This is a terrible time to lose your offensive coordinator because the program is in the home stretch of recruiting.
If this becomes official tomorrow, Narduzzi will start an immediate search for the new offensive leader. It’s hard to imagine what’s going through the head of Narduzzi but it can’t be pleasant. I’d imagine this loss would be more upsetting to him personally than last year with Jim Chaney leaving for Georgia.
I’ll throw out a name and I’ll expand upon this if this all plays out, but I’d strongly consider hiring from within and possibly giving tight ends coach Tim Salem a shot at the job.
