LSU Football Assistant Coach Profile: Quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan
It’s not often you see an FBS coordinator jump programs to be a position coach. That’s exactly what LSU quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan did when he left Louisiana Tech to join Brian Kelly’s staff at LSU.
Sloan spent the last nine years at Louisiana Tech. In his time with the Bulldogs, Sloan was a wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator before eventually taking over the offensive coordinator duties.
He is a native of Virginia and got his start in college football when he was the backup quarterback for East Carolina. From there, he got into coaching, working in recruiting and operations at ECU and South Florida.
In 2019, Louisiana Tech had one of the best offenses in Conference USA. The past couple of years, they weren’t up to that standard, but the passing offense continued to be one of the more prolific in the conference.
That 2019 offense saw its quarterback, J’Mar Smith, take home Conference USA’s offensive player of the year award.
Sloan’s resume speaks for itself. Whether it’s quarterbacks, wide receivers or recruiting, Sloan has experiences to point to. The fact that LSU was able to get a guy who was calling plays to be a position coach is impressive. The offense will be led by Kelly and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, but Sloan is a younger coach the staff can turn to if they need some fresh ideas.
This will be his 10th year working in Louisiana. He’s a part of an offensive staff with plenty of Louisiana ties. When Kelly first got the job, a big discussion centered around who would be hired to recruit Louisiana, and Sloan fits the mold.
At the same time, recruiting quarterbacks is often about what can be done nationally. This is where Sloan will have to prove himself.
Louisiana Tech isn’t a program trying to land five-star signal-callers, so these are waters Sloan hasn’t even dipped his toes in. It’s an area where he’ll have guys like Kelly and Frank Wilson to lean on, but Sloan will need to do a large chunk of the work himself.
Sloan is also tasked with overseeing an uber-competitive quarterback battle. There are three guys in that room right now that have a chance to start and in the spring, Kelly highlighted how effective Sloan has been in rotating guys in and out.
There are unknowns, but it looks like LSU got a good one in Sloan. He’s a well-rounded coach with no shortage of ties to the region. He’s got a lot on his plate right now and whoever starts in the fall will have some struggles, but Sloan has an opportunity to show he’s deserving of a coordinator job at a Power Five school.
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