The dominos continue to fall in wake of the departure of Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema, as the North Carolina State Athletic Department announced in a statement Saturday morning that Wisconsin offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Canada has accepted the same position at NC State.
“Matt Canada has one of the most creative offensive minds in the country and he does a great job of utilizing strengths and hiding weaknesses,” NC State head coach Dave Doeren said in the statement. “I had the privilege to work with Matt when he was on the staff of our first conference championship team at Northern Illinois and to coach against him when he was the offensive coordinator at Indiana.”
Canada is the third assistant coach to leave the program, following the departure of co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash for the same position at Arkansas and wide receiver coach Zach Azzanni for the same position at Tennessee.
Both will remain on staff to coach Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
Canada will join former Badgers’ defensive coordinator and now-head coach Doeren, who accepted the job earlier this month after guiding Northern Illinois to its first BCS bowl appearance this season as the head coach. The Huskies earned a trip to the Orange Bowl after Doeren coached them to a 12-1 record in his second year at Northern Illionis.
“I am grateful to Dave for the opportunity to join him at NC State,” said Canada. “It’s a special place and I think the future is bright for the program. I am excited to meet and begin working with our players.”
In 2011 Canada was the offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois under Doeren, where his offense ranked among the top 12 nationally in scoring offense, total offense and rushing offense. The Huskies also posted an 11-3 record, winning the MAC championship and grabbing a victory in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Canada endured heavy criticism at Wisconsin in his first and only season in 2012, as the offense struggled to get out of the gates early on in the initial weeks of nonconference play. But, at the conclusion of the regular season, the Badgers were ranked 12th in the NCAA in rushing yards per game (237.8) and once again heading to the Rose Bowl after Canada’s creative play-calling lead to a 70-31 blowout victory over then-No.12 Nebraska in the Big Ten Championship game.
“Matt has had to run his offense with different personnel and has been successful each time,” Doeren said. “He will make the transition much easier for me. He’s not only a tremendous quarterback coach who has developed quarterbacks into NFL players, but he has also developed the run game, as evidenced by Wisconsin’s success rushing the ball this season.”
