LSU hires new passing game coordinator
LSU has hired former St Louis Rams head coach Scott Linehan to be its new passing game coordinator.
Linehan will replace Joe Brady, who put together a stunningly brilliant offense, won the SEC and then the National Championship in convincing fashion. Brady is now the offensive coordinator at the Carolina Panthers, where he will work for former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule.
Linehan is hardly the young mind that Brady was. He’s had a 30-year career both at NFL and college level
Linehan started in 1989 with Idaho before moving onto Washington and Louisville, before he landed a NFL job as OC for the Minnesota Vikings and the Miami Dolphins, before becoming the head coach of the St Louis Rams between 2006 and 2008. He then went back to being the Detroit Lions OC, before coming to JerryWorld to be the Dallas Cowboys’ passing game coordinator 2014 and then offensive coordinator between 2015 and January 2019.
What will be slightly worrisome to LSU fans is that Linehan’s adjustment back into college football, where the hours are worse, and most of them are taken not only coaching but sucking up to 16 year-old high school stars in an effort to get them to play big-time SEC Football. He hasn’t done that in 19 years. Then there’s also the fact that Linehan hasn’t had a job in the SEC before, which has certainly irked some in the past.
That’s not to say that Linehan hasn’t worked with SEC products in the passing game, though, having spent time with Dak Prescott (Mississippi State) and before that Matt Stafford (Georgia). Both of them will bring the pedigree that QB recruits will see.
The biggest thing that Linehan will be replacing Joe Burrow. Myles Brennan will be the frontrunner for the job, although dual-threat QB Peter Parrish, who arrived in 2019, as well as four-star Max Johnson from Georgia and 3-star Louisiana resident TJ Finley who came along in the 2020 class are also in the hunt.
Linehan will bring a small battery of excellent receivers back, with J’Marr Chase and Terrace Marshall Jr leading the way.
He will work with current OC Steve Ensminger. The news comes hot on the heels of LSU’s hiring of Samford OC/quarterbacks coach Russ Callaway as an analyst, Tyler Tettleton, who held the job of former quality control on offensive with the Cleveland Brown on the offensive side. Tettleton was also a grad assistant under Lincoln Riley before getting a scout job with the New York Jets and then Cleveland the year after.