Matt Canada out as Offensive Coordinator

The purge begins.

Hat tip to our message forums where this news was already being discussed.

I remember getting intel in 2013 (Doeren’s first year) that he and Canada had disagreements and my connections didn’t expect Canada to make it to 2014. With this as a backdrop, it doesn’t surprise me that this is the first shoe to drop in what I expect to be a bit of an overhaul on Coach Doeren’s staff.

Link

N.C. State’s football team will have a new offensive coordinator next season.

Assistant coach Matt Canada has been “relieved of his duties” after three seasons with the school, according to an athletic department spokesperson early Sunday morning.

Sports Illustrated was the first to report about Canada’s departure, which comes three days after N.C. State ended a disappointing 7-6 season with a 51-28 loss to Mississippi State in the Belk Bowl.

N.C. State’s offense had its share of success under Canada, who was also the quarterbacks coach. The Wolfpack ranked No. 31 in the country in rushing offense this season and averaged more than 200 rushing yards in back-to-back seasons. Prior to last season, N.C. State hadn’t averaged 200 rushing yards per game since 1992.

This season, the Wolfpack averaged 33.2 points per game, which was third most in the ACC this season.

But N.C. State’s offense also sputtered in some of its biggest games and Canada had a tendency to forget about his best players. The Wolfpack was held to 13 points in critical ACC losses to Louisville and Virginia Tech early in October when running back Matt Dayes was still healthy.

Sophomore running back Jaylen Samuels ran for two touchdowns in the bowl loss but only had three carries in the game. Samuels, who led the team with 16 touchdowns, was on the field for only 31 snaps in the 20-13 loss to Louisville on Oct. 3. He finished that game with five catches for 75 yards, and a touchdown, but had no rushing attempts.

Canada previously worked with N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren at Northern Illinois. Canada received a new three-year contract last January after Tennessee had interest in hiring him for the same position. Canada’s base salary was $560,000 for the 2015 season and was scheduled to increase to $615,000 on July 1.

Last month, Canada interviewed with East Carolina for their head-coaching position, which was eventually filled by Duke offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery.

Next season, N.C. State could have as many as seven starters returning from this year’s offense but has to break in a new quarterback and replace three senior linemen.

I never thought Canada was that bad of an offensive coordinator…but, I think that Doeren needs to make wholesale changes to the staff and I welcome any moves that are designed to fix what our problems. I’d label our offense as ‘inconsistent’ as there would be games, or even stretches of the schedule, where the offense was grossly inconsistent. There were just way too many times that the offense didn’t feel like it was flowing at all and that we were trying to force fit puzzle pieces that weren’t meant for each other.

Additionally, there is no arguing that Jacoby Brissett did no improve over last year, and our pass game went backwards. Of course, the weak wide receiving corp and offensive line have impacts on this, but you can’t ignore Brissett’s role in the weak passing game.

I’m elevating this quote from choppack from our message forums:

As someone who has been baffled many times with Canada, I find his release very perplexing if hux is allowed to stay. So what you want about Canada, but he has shown signs of genius. He has shown he can do his part in engineering upsets…the same can’t be said about hux thus far in his tenure in Raleigh.

Of course, hux may be fired tomorrow. If that happens, what does it say about the head coach that he has to fire BOTH coordinators that he had hired 3 years into his tenure.

So, where might NC State turn for the replacement? One thing is for certain – there will be a lot of talk about State changing offenses and implementing something like the spread to serve to ‘level’ the playing field and not have to be so reliant on the importance of recruiting a bevy of top rated offensive lineman. Our brothers over at the Red & White Podcast have shared some interesting thoughts:

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Home Forums Matt Canada out as Offensive Coordinator

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 44 total)
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  • #95849
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    The purge begins. Hat tip to our message forums where this news was already being discussed. I remember getting intel in 2013 (Doeren’s first year) th
    [See the full post at: Matt Canada out as Offensive Coordinator]

    #95851
    Wufpacker
    Participant

    Hey look, something new to bitch about.
    Last Week: DD should fire the coordinators.
    This Week: DD must suck because he had to fire the coordinators.

    jeebus…

    #95854
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    Wufpacker — I’m not sure I understand what you’re seeing/experiencing here. Most reaction I see is kind’ve matter-of-fact and doesn’t seem to be critical of DD at all.

    I’d rather try to focus on the topic more than worry about reactions from various pockets of the fanbase which, of course, isn’t going to be consistent.

    If nothing else, the move will inject a little energy and curiosity into the program. It will also be interesting to see if the new OC can bring with him some skill-position recruits (WRs?) and/or JUCO players that can provide some immediate help.

    #95855
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Glad to see moves being made. Hope this can spark something for us. We need it. Go get the best candidate and fight like mad next year.

    #95856
    bcagle75
    Participant

    It’s good to stir things up some. Go Pack!

    Go Pack!

    #95857
    TMD11
    Participant

    Are you serious..??? The biggest problem on this team isn’t the offense…its the DEFENSE. They can’t stop anybody, much less at crunch time.
    Is anyone paying attention to the number of points STATE allows…? Do we want a championship calibre team….?

    There has to be some sort of DEFENSE. This is about ridiculous. Good teams torch us – early and often.

    #95858
    wolfpacknoxville
    Participant

    Huxtable’s job isn’t secure just because the other coordinator got fired first. He could be gone shortly as well.

    If it is true that Doeren and Canada didn’t get along, then this is the right thing to do. Canada will find another job, and we will find another coordinator. Coordinators bounce around all the time.

    #95861
    Wufpacker
    Participant

    SFN, I wasn’t making reference to the facts of the matter, nor your reporting of them. I would have thought you’d know me better than that by now. A change needed to be made, and IMHO still needs to be made (even more so) on the other side of the ball.

    My only reference is to a fanbase which is fractured and thus flagellates itself regularly and pathetically, on an almost daily basis. As evidenced by the comments on the forums thread that you yourself quoted…

    If I may…

    “If that happens, what does it say about the head coach that he has to fire BOTH coordinators that he had hired 3 years into his tenure?”

    That is what I’m seeing/experiencing. And I’m about damn sick of it.

    #95862
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    TMD11, why are you making the assumption that defense is NOT going to be addressed? I don’t understand the arbitrary connection of two mutually exclusive items.

    #95866
    TheAliasTroll
    Participant

    They can bring in Bill Belichick as the OC but it means NOTHING if the defense can’t get off the field.

    #95868
    Alpha Wolf
    Keymaster

    I’m glad it won’t be Matt Canada developing Jalen McClendon. That gives me hope for the young man to have a good career under center.

    #95870
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    Wufpacker – great points.

    I chose to include that quote b/c I think it is telling and opens up a broader conversation about Doeren as a leader and his effectiveness.

    I *think* Doeren can be successful. I also think that some of his weaknesses have been exposed and the comment about having to re-jigger the staff at this point in his tenure is related to this. I think Doeren might have been a tad too self-confident at times and has been a bit stubborn about some things, including his staff.

    I also think this is where solid AD leadership helps us tremendously as he won’t be on an island. He will have financial and all sorts of other support from the AD that will help enhance his chances of coming out of this better than before.

    #95871
    WestCoast
    Participant

    OC won’t matter unless we stop other offenses. Huxtable’s D has shown very little improvement at all from year to year. I’m sure more to come.

    #95882
    PackFamily
    Participant

    Mike Uremovich, OLine coach, leaving to take the OC job at NIU

    #95886
    PK Pollar
    Participant

    Wufpacker said:

    Last Week: DD should fire the coordinators.
    This Week: DD must suck because he had to fire the coordinators.

    That was my first impression when reading the posting. While it does say something about DD’s leadership and development as a P5 Head Coach, if the best thing to do now is fire the coordinator(s), then it should be done.

    I think we have all seen cases when the best thing to do at time=now was not done and we regretted it.

    DD will continue to be the coach for a couple of years. He needs the best and most energetic support staff possible. This could be his transition from diamond-in-the-rough to solid coach.

    #95889
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    It was widely whispered last fall that Canada and Doeren didn’t like one another.

    #95891
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    He will have financial and all sorts of other support from the AD that will help enhance his chances of coming out of this better than before.

    I’ll have to wait and see how it all shakes out to determine whether I agree with this line of thinking.

    But make no mistake DD sits behind the eight ball today. He’s got an awful lot going against him. Average year (didn’t beat anybody significant), forced to fire his OC. Very difficult 2016 schedule. New QB to break in. Poor recruiting. Apathetic fan base. And the rival down the road beat your tail and managed to keep both Fedora and Chizik.

    He’s not in a good position right now. It will take an awful lot to reverse course.

    #95892
    tractor57
    Participant

    I have no inside knowledge. I do have opinions as a fan. Many times during the years I thought the offensive game plan was lacking. I felt the same with the defensive game plan. Maybe that will be addressed next. All in all I think I like the move …

    #95900
    BassPacker
    Participant

    Wonder what happens with Diondre Overton tonight now. Could be bad news for us and good news (again) for Clemson.

    #95901
    choppack1
    Participant

    Wufpacker – since you singled out my post. Its a simple question really… Part of effective leadership is surrounding yourself with quality people and recognizing good talent…another part is, of course, making tough decisions.

    I can assure you, if this had been hux getting the ax – I won’t have applauded the decision. Like you, to me this strikes me as the lower hanging fruit.

    I haven’t done the homework, so I don’t know how many effective coaches had to fire both coaches early in their tenure in the same season.

    I just know this – one of the main reasons I support giving DD at least 6 years (in spite of a conference record that rivals only Tom Reed) is the belief that stability in itself can yield good results. When you have to fire coordinators, you set back that stability a bit it would seem.

    But hey, we may just have that stability on the defensive side of the ball.

    Who knows? I certainly don’t. I do believe that DD can be effective coach, but you’ll have to excuse me if I indulge in a little “self-flagulation”. I just call em as I see um with the knowledge that I don’t know the future and there is an exception to every rule.

    #95902
    Primewolf
    Participant

    Move long overdue. We haven’t shown much analytical analysis of folks that we hire, including DD. I think we need that type of background work to really make the best decision and pay what it takes. DD hired two coordinators that had just been fired and, further, neither had ever really done much in their careers. It was just a dumb idea. If DY couldn’t pony up enough money to hire $1M coordinators when DD was brought in, then she wasn’t thinking either. It does no good to bring in a new head coach without careful analysis and plenty of $ to get the best proven coaches possible.

    DD is not analytical. We did not show any real coaching excellence over the past 3 years. You can see quality coaching immediately and we saw none of it, really since day 1.

    There is still risk even if you pay big $ for top coordinators and assistants. But, if you don’t, you are likely to fail.

    I think DD was a mistaken hire, but here’s to being proven wrong and that new coaches can make a real difference.

    #95904
    Heelh8r
    Participant

    From what I have seen and heard, I do not believe anyone is out working DD and staff in recruiting and building relationships. I think it has begun to pay off and will continue to build. It does take time. However, I do not think he has proven he can coach yet. I find it a bit ludicrous to place so much blame on the assistant coaches. Do you not think he is involved in the defensive and offensive game planning and play calling? If the play he wants run is not being run and he doesn’t change it, he has no one to blame but himself. I understand if the players are not developing under the assistants and the assistants are not bringing in the recruits that are needed, then yes, he has to address that in his hiring and firing. But blaming the play calling and defensive game planning on the coordinators, I don’t believe it.

    #95905
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    The ” P ” Factor at work…

    according to some observers…

    the Best Defense is a Good Offense….

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #95906
    choppack1
    Participant

    Botb – what was our p’s on offense (not as compared to “d” but just our own punts not the ones we force.

    #95908
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    ^hell Chop … I don’t know…
    whatever it was… it needed to be a whole hellava lot better…

    ———
    There’s two ways to play the ” P ” Factor…
    Three and OUt or…
    get the ball, keep the ball and keep your weakass D on the sideline…

    We didn’t do either…

    Maybe this move gives us a glimpse as the DD’s preference..
    i.e.,,, just outscore the other team…

    who knows?

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
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