I had no choice. I tried to type something simple, like, “Matt Canada Hired as New OC.” But it went through the Mandatory Wordplay Headline Generator and came out as “Pitt Fans Prepping to Blame Canada.” Another simple explanatory headline on his joining the coaching staff came out as, “Canada Invades Pitt.” So, embrace the bad wordplay and all it entails.
Almost as soon as the surprising announcement of Matt Canada being fired from NC State less than a week ago, the possibility of Canada becoming Pitt’s OC made a lot of sense. There was some prior history between Canada and Head Coach Pat Narduzzi on the Northern Illinois University staff for a couple of years. Canada has a solid rep as an OC, and his offensive style meshes with what Narduzzi wants. Add in the fact that Canada was not just a power 5 OC, but one within the ACC.
The only way it wasn’t going to happen was if Narduzzi already had slam dunk hire lined up and was waiting for either the final bowl games to finish or some contract stuff to be worked out. Instead, the announcement was made mid-afternoon today.
Matt Canada, a 24-year coaching veteran who most recently orchestrated some of the most productive offenses in NC State history, has been named offensive coordinator at Pitt by Pat Narduzzi.
Under Canada’s direction, NC State averaged more than 30 points per game each of the past two seasons. In 2015, the Wolfpack scored 33.2 points per contest, the third highest average in school history.
Canada’s Pitt appointment marks a reunion with Narduzzi. The pair worked together at Northern Illinois from 2000-02.
“I’ve known Matt and his family for a very long time and I feel very fortunate to bring him to Pittsburgh,” Narduzzi said. “Matt is an innovative offensive mind, excellent teacher of quarterback play and strong recruiter and evaluator. He is a great leader who will provide our team and staff with a real spark. Most importantly, Matt is a tremendously loyal person who will be a great fit for Pitt.”
“I’m thrilled and honored to join Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt football program,” Canada said. “I have tremendous respect for Pat as a person and professional. He truly does things the right way. Pat is building something special at Pitt and I’m ready to hit the ground running and begin contributing to the effort.”
When Canada was let go by NC State, the general fan reaction was roughly, “Ummm. Okay. I guess.” They were more interested (hopeful) on whether the DC, Dave Huxtable was next. The issue, surprisingly enough, seemed to be a personality clash between NC State HC Dave Doeren and Canada. I say, surprisingly, because they had been working together back at NIU. Additionally NC State had stepped up last year to make Canada one of the highest paid assistants in the ACC with a 3-year deal, when Tennessee tried to grab him.
Yet, all accounts are that it was a personality clash that drove the split. The spin that tried to be played out was that the NC State offense sputtered in key games last year. Yet, that seems a bit strained to fire the guy. Especially considering what he did accomplish, and what the offense lost this past year —
The Wolfpack also had 2,659 rushing yards last year, the fourth highest total in school history. The past two seasons Canada has also helped rejuvenate the career of graduating starting quarterback Jacoby Brissett.
After two lackluster seasons at Florida and sitting out 2013 due to his transfer, Brissett has developed into a potential mid-round pick in April’s NFL draft. He threw for 5,268 yards with 43 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions in his two seasons with the Wolfpack.
The WR corp this year was considered weak (think Pitt if there was no Tyler Boyd this past season). The offense wasn’t the issue, even with losses in personnel.
Bottom line: CDD’s [Coach Dave Doeren] second year was better than all of TOB’s [Tom O’Brien] years save for one, and, despite regressing in the W-L column by a game, CDD’s third season was better than his second (and thus also better than all of TOB’s years save for one).
Here’s the rub: As the metrics show pretty decisively, CDD’s improvement of the program has come on the offensive side of the football. Fremeau rates the last two Canada offenses ahead of the best offense of the TOB era. Connelly does the same. While Connelly is lukewarm on the Pack D, Fremeau (who hasn’t bothered to update the individual units, only the F/+ overall, during bowl season) puts a big old frowny face on Dave Huxtable’s unit. It’s probably safe to say that Huxtable’s defense will finish in the 80s for a third straight year once the rankings are updated. The NC State defense isn’t just bad; it’s not showing any appreciable improvement. But, despite the Swiss cheese approach, the offense’s grand improvement still propels the program past the mediocre TOB standard.
The team had a talented running back with a 10 cent-brain in Shadrach Thorton who was dismissed from the team. Their next best running back, Matt Dayes missed the last five games due to injuries.
So, yeah, the decision to fire the OC, but not make any changes to the defensive side of the ball is being met with a little confusion among the NC State faithful.
For Pitt, this just feels like a good fit. Pitt gets a good OC with plenty of experience and success. He’s got ambition (he also interviewed for the East Carolina State head coaching job in December). His first call after agreeing to terms was to Thomas McVittie — the star QB recruit in Pitt’s 2016 class.
Seems like pretty much of a lateral move.
No matter if he stays, it does not look good.
One of their prize DT recruits has de-committed.
How much more does it hurt if he goes?
One month before signing day.
Remember how Franklin flipped some kids last year? Turn a bout fair game.
One hidden plus but also a minus is O Canada’s knowledge of other ACC defenses. Likewise, he won’t surprise anyone.
I want some consistency on offense so I hope he does well and stays longer.
The PSU defense has been a strongpoint recently; it certainly wasn’t their offense.
Too bad we are not in the hunt, he de-committed Thursday.
this article also claims PSU DC Shoop makes about $1M per. Franklin makes $4.3 – 4.7, depneidng on who you listen to.
Reminds me of the Pirates with their $95m payroll having the 2nd best record in MLB last year while some teams with > $250M payrolls don’t even make the playoffs
… you can see his vibe is very similar to Coach Duzz and the D side of the ball past year.
So no more Puff Pastry approach to coaching on the O side.
Pretty clear from reports that Coach Puff Pastry used Pitt to get around a 1 yr non-compete in the SEC… he did us a favor by leaving!
This dude seems to be a better fit all around and he has years of OC experience including being the OC for Big 10 champion Whisky and for MAC Champion N. Ill…. yeah…
Any one have good intel. on this guy as a recruiter…??? That is one thing missing in coverage so far… need the pros to dig up the skinny on this guys recruiting talent, regions, track record…
Enjoy
It has been a long while since UT or PSU have been competitive in their conferences. Could be a bidding war, with a big pay day for Shoop. Big egos on parade.
Welcome to the Pitt family Coach C.
Hail to Pitt
–I hope that Coach Duzz and Coach Canada sit down and figure out what should be kept from the current offense — and how they can avoid or minimize the problems that occur with installing a new offense.
—If the plays are the same — and certainly many of them are — I’d rather see Coach Canada learn the existing terminology than the players learn new stuff.
—-With our tough schedule next season, I’d hate to see us start slow because of a new offensive system is holding us back…
–Maybe the transition will be smoother since the rest of the offensive staff – presumably – will be the same. (Does coming into an existing staff create an awkward situation for Coach Canada?)
–Here’s hoping Mr. MacVittie is happy with the new OC.
Go Pitt.
Also like that HCPN likes his recruiting ability which again fits what Pitt needs more than anything, better talent.
Hope our new OC is ready to be the “lead dog” as the frosh WRs coming in seem to be very talented and may need to be a big factor next year.
Also think our new OC has got to be chomping at the bit about the opportunity of coaching a first class human being and great talent like JC next year, after what he endured last year with the goofs who played RB for NCSt.
Watch youtube videos of NC State, Wisconsin, Northern Illinois the years he coached, I like the style.
It’s not nuclear physics. In one system the backs are 1-2-3
and in another they are a-b-c. The holes (gaps) are 1,3,5 on the strong side 2-4-6 on the week side. Or a c e vs b d f
Plays are called like b 3 which is fullback thru the 3 gap.
Let’s not make more of it than it is.
Program is moving rapidly in an up direction. H2P
Just spent an hour at our manufacturing plant with the fire dept – fortunately it was a false alarm. But I may have come up with a nickname for our new OC Matt Canada.
Matt “Hoser”
I know it’s late, but I thought it was funny…
Comment by Erie Express 01.09.16 @ 1:50 am
But, we can now turn a new page and get ready for LOI signing day, Spring ball, Fall camp, Conner’s cancer free report, the return of James “the beast” Conner to Pitt FB AND September 10th. Let’s make this a year to remember in Pitt football!
I’m going to renew my season tickets on Monday.
HTP!
In JC’s case, the changes weren’t drastic … but IMO his play calling was much too dependent on east-west plays when the team was built on north-south.
But talent (and speed) can overcome a lot of things … our incoming class should eventually be impactful on whatever MC runs.
Chris Dokish ?@ChrisDokish · 15 hours ago
After Matt Canada was hired I asked MacVittie’s dad how they felt about it. His response? “Fired up.”
What is Franklin going to do if he actually has to coach more on both the O & the D with two new hires at OC & maybe now at the DC position too? He may have to put so much more time into actually figuring out how to coach football that he might just have to give up his hobby of trolling after every one of Coach Narduzzi’s sportcasts in the future.
He also said in the Trib that he would run every chance he got! I’m salivating!!
OCMC is certainly talkin’ the talk. Now we’ll see if he can walk the walk ( or should I say, see if he can run the run!)
BTW, you can forget the nickname, “McRib”! What MC lacks in girth, he more than makes up for in scalp! The NCSU photo I saw of him last night shows that he is getting quite folically challenged!
Smashmouth football will be back, if Conner gets healthy even better.
Now if Narduzzi and Conklin can get our defense up a couple more notches and actually implement that aggressive style we have heard about, we might really be something.
Somebody has already mentioned his recommitment with a following comment that it is to bad that Pitt is not in play for him. That is just not the case!
Dioubate has a scholarship offer from Pitt and if I was Josh Conklin, I would have this kid’s phone # on my speed dial. He should be on Dioubate like white on rice the first day after the dead period. This is another recruit, similar to Rasan Gary that would probably start from day one if he committed to the Panthers.
Throw into this mix the impression of Pitt picking up a former penn state recruit and the propaganda alone would be worth it’s weight in gold. Put some time in on this guy! We need more interior defensive linemen!
PN: Matt, you ready to come with me and win some football games?
MC: I’m weighing my options right now – what do you have that might interest me?
PN: For starters, we have many underutilized “road graders” for an OLine with six players returning with starting experience.
MC: Why do you refer to them as underutilized?
PN: Ask Jim Chaney…Then at running back we have everyone back we wanted to keep – you could develop three 1,000 yard rushers next year – studs galore.
MC: Is that Conner kid back who won the ACC POY award in 2014?
PN: Yes, and we’ll talk more on him later – he’s special with a capital “S”. Like Superman stuff.
MC: What about the WR position?
PN: We’re good at WR even though we lose All-ACC Tyler Boyd to the NFL – I have two 4 * recruits for you to secure and develop. Plus one starter returning who’s big and plays hard named Ford.
MC: And TE?
PN: We lose a 4 year starter in JP Holtz, but his back-up (Orndorff) played three years like a starter. I brought in a transfer from UCLA who was the #1 TE recruit in the 2015 class. You’ll be fine. Our 3rd string TE should be the starting FB (Parrish).
MC: Why was Parrish buried on the depth chart?
PN: Again, ask Chaney.
PN: Any chance you can flip the NC State 2016 TE recruit you and Hux brought in from the state of Georgia?
MC: Possible – Hux is a D guy as you know.
PC: The QB position is our weak spot on O. I probably ran off the candidate you would have most liked to work with. But, our starter is serviceable & back for his final year. We have a nice recruit named Tom MacVitte who I’d need you to contact and secure his commitment right away.
MC: I can help you win with that offensive personnel. How’s the D?
PN: Underwhelming to put it nicely. Any chance you could flip that 2016 DT recruit who verbally committed to Clemson? You were able to get hime to visit NC State about a month ago and I know it is a tall order, but Dexter Lawrence would look nice in a Pitt uniform. Pitt has a long history of churning out NFL DLineman. Ever heard of Aaron Donald, Tony Siragusa, Mark Spindler, Ricky Jackson, Chris Doleman, Sean Gilbert, Keith Hamilton and Hugh Green. I could go on and on.
PN: But first, I need to hire an OC. You want the job?
MC: YES!
PN: Then it’s yours. One important note – we prefer no overuse of capital letters.
There is an important basketball game today, first real road game, no neutral site. Could tell us a lot if what we are seeing is real. ND struggling to replace Connaughton and Grant. Hope we are able to go deep into our bench. They can’t run with us so they will try to “burn” us. Defense and rebounding need to be strong as well as shooting. Hope we get a strong performance.
The game is on Root sports here in the Burg.
H2P
Good stuff for Pitt – I’d rather be golfing though – too cold and raining.
I recall that one of the coaches (maybe the guy from Ole Miss?) was a total douche bag. Super arrogant. While Duzz cam across as a guy who just lives football with no pretenses. Here is the DiPaola link for anyone who is interested.
link to blog.triblive.com
H2P
The write ups I’ve read say MC is good with QBs, as well. I’m hoping he can spend a lot of time with NP. Also, it’d be nice to see how he feels about Bertke and Dinucci.
However, he’d really be something if he got McVittie up to snuff for this season. I’ve always felt that it’s rare that you can be successful with a freshman QB. Of course, there are exceptions – “some closer to home than others!”
I posted this yesterday late in the thread. For a rainy day when you can’t golf, this is worth the 15 minutes. For the 5th grader in all of us. “Hello Canada” link to youtube.com
H2P
Less than Fast.
Unlike George Hill coming in next year. Bigger, Faster, BETTER than Sanders.
And yes, he’ll play Runningback.
PoD – you are correct. It is your opinion. Mine is that Hill will be a DB.
I think though that if he’s a RB and Conner is good to go, they’ll have to RS Hill. (unless someone gets injured)
Both Hill and Pugh have been told they can have a shot at Runningback if they want it.
I’ve already said Pugh is a Runningback. How good? Not sure.
On the other hand, Hill has the potential to be a STAR!
“When (former coordinator Jim) Chaney left, I said we are going to get a guy as good or better,” he said. “Mission accomplished there.”
LOL…
listed as one of the top 10 performers overall
bumped up to 5 star
But, he did block well.
If you call that “hating”… then let’s go with it.
Sanders is more QUICK than Fast. This is what showed in how his skills translated when playing against the Talent at Under Armour.
On the other hand, Hill is more of a Breakaway Back.
Hill is FASTER than Sanders on the Field… and on the Track. TWO or THREE Steps faster.
Now to his credit, Sanders put up some BIG numbers in High School… and against BETTER talent than Hill faced at Hubbard High in Ohio.
But when you watch Hill’s Highlights, he shows a LOT of speed, but more importantly, the ability to “cut with speed” which not many Backs have.
I hate to say it (not really) but this is exactly what I was talking about in my last article when I said that I wished Voytik would have delayed his decision about transferring until after a new OC was named…. specifically because we might have gotten someone who has this on his coaching resume:
“NC State quarterback Jacoby Brissett thrived as a dual threat under Canada’s watch the past two years. Brissett threw 43 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions over his junior and senior seasons, earning the team’s MVP award each year.
In 2014 Brissett was one of just three Power 5 conference quarterbacks with at least 2,000 passing yards, 300 rushing yards, 20 passing TDs and five (or fewer) interceptions. The others were Oregon Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and UCLA’s Brett Hundley.”
Voytik has to stay in school for the spring semester anyway and could easily have waited until LOI Day (when most new coordinators are hired by) and then weighed this optional with this new coach. Obviously Canadea likes mobile QBs who are a solid running threat (like Voytik) and allows them move the ball forward with their legs.
I wanted him to thrive at Pitt if possible and if this OC comes in with a ‘blank slate’ and any good OC does he just may have given that starting job back to Chad.
It’s just too damn bad really. Just as I said at this point last year that Voytik didn’t play so well he couldn’t be replaced I feel the exact same thing about Peterman this year. We saw a new OC come in last season and unseat the incumbent starter and we may well have seen the same thing for 2016 had Voytik not declared his intentions so soon.
That ship has sailed and it’s not on CV – it’s on HCPN.
Just sayin…
So, we probably shouldn’t discuss any Pitt football history or second guess anything on here an longer.
Since I’m kidding I’ll say that I just received a great book with a ton of historic news items about Pitt BB & FB and I’ll do some podcast posts with that later on.
You & I are one the same page when you say you wish you could see how CV would fare with the new OC – but my point was both Chaney and Salem did not even consider CV to replace NP in the last two games when a sub was warranted. Both OC’s reported directly to HCPN and thus I believe Duzz was showing CV the door himself.
That Miami video takes me back to when I played on the baseball team at Pitt. Soph year we went to Miami in March for a tournament. First time we were “exposed” to “Bat Girls.” Yes, instead of having a “bat boy,” Miami had tanned and lean babes in short-shorts as “Bat Girls.”
Talk about a distraction for us guys from the frigid north…
Go Pitt.
I have little faith in either Bertke or DiMucci in playing the 2016 season as a back-up.
