Reports: LSU hires former Cowboys OC Scott Linehan to replace Joe Brady
LSU has found another former NFL coach to run its passing game.
According to multiple reports, the Tigers are hiring former Rams head coach and longtime NFL assistant Scott Linehan to be the team’s new passing game coordinator. Linehan replaces Joe Brady, who left the Tigers after LSU won the national title to be the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.
The news of Linehan’s hire was first reported by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.
Linehan spent the 2019 season out of coaching after he got fired from his post as the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys after the 2018 season. Linehan was the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator for four seasons and was with the team for five seasons after he spent four years as the OC for the Detroit Lions.
Before he was with the Lions, Linehan was the head coach for the Rams while they were in St. Louis. The Rams were 11-25 in Linehan’s two-plus seasons with the team. The team went 8-8 in 2006 but was 3-13 in 2007 and 0-4 in 2008 before Linehan was fired.
Linehan last coached in college football in 2001. That was his final season of a three-year stint as Louisville’s offensive coordinator before he became the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator.
LSU’s offense set records in 2019
Brady, 30, came to LSU ahead of the 2019 season after he worked for the New Orleans Saints. The Tigers overhauled the offense after his arrival as coach Ed Orgeron and offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger decided to radically change the way the team’s offense operated.
The changes clearly worked. The Tigers won the national title as QB Joe Burrow won the Heisman and broke a ton of records. Burrow completed over 75 percent of his passes, averaged nearly 11 yards an attempt and threw for 60 touchdowns in 15 games. The success led Brady back to the NFL, where he was hired by former Baylor coach Matt Rhule to run the Panthers’ offense.
Without Burrow, RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, WR Justin Jefferson and multiple members of a fantastic offensive line back in 2020, the Tigers’ offense is bound to take a step back even if Ensminger’s unit keeps throwing the ball like it did last season. But if that step back is pretty large, Linehan will be an easy target for blame from the fanbase, whether that blame is legitimate or not.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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