LSU's Next Offensive Coordinator

Predicting that LSU would part ways with Gary Crowton did not require very good analytical skills.  LSU's offense has not lived up to expectations the last couple of years and so something had to give.  In November, I predicted LSU would part ways with coach Crowton and I named three coaches that I thought might provide LSU with offensive improvement next year.   The three coaches that I named in that article were Al Borges, Chad Morris, and Justin Fuente.


In November Al Borges was the Offensive Coordinator at San Diego State.  While San Diego State had a solid offense this year, Borges caught my attention because of the success that he had enjoyed as Auburn's OC from 2004 - 2007.  The main thing I recalled about Borges' success at Auburn was Auburn's 2004 13-0 season.  When I took a second look at Borges' Auburn stint, I realized that Borges left Auburn in 2007 because his offenses had become less and less productive.  A really successful offense that drops production after a year or two sounds very much like what LSU has experienced the last few years.  LSU fans may count it a blessing that Borges' head coach at San Diego State took over the Michigan job and took Borges with him.  Borges becoming OC at Michigan will hopefully be a good move for Michigan and LSU.


Back in November Chad Morris was the first year offensive coordinator of a Tulsa team that ranked 13th in passing yards, averaging 288.7 yards a game, and 15th in rushing yards with just shy of 217 yards a game. Tulsa's offense this year averaged 41.4 points a game ranking 6th in the nation.  Tulsa lost only three games this year and beat Hawaii 62-35 in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.  Given time, Chad Morris may prove to be the best offensive coordinator on the big stage of college football.  Morris will get a chance to prove himself on a bit bigger stage than he saw at Tulsa because Morris was snapped up recently by Dabo Swinney to coach Clemson as their OC next year.


Initially, I liked Borges and Morris slightly better than Justin Fuente but on closer inspection, Fuente looks like he may be the best of the three coaches I looked at in November.  Oh and Fuente appears to be LSU's first choice.  Reportedly, Justin Fuente is interviewing for the open LSU OC position.  Fuente is currently the co-offensive coordinator of #2 ranked Rose bowl champs, TCU.  Fuente has had the play calling responsibilities since 2009 and his play calling has proven very solid.  This year in head-to-head competition with San Diego State, Fuente's horned frogs narrowly outscored Borges' Aztecs 40-35.  And while Chad Morris was a strong choice, I liked Morris more than Fuente in part because Fuente emerged as TCU's OC from a position of running backs coach.  Morris was listed as Tulsa's OC and quarterbacks coach.  After I found out that Fuente was interviewing for the vacant LSU position, I noticed that Fuente had been a really good quarterback in college at Murray State.  While Murray State is not considered "quarterback U", neither was Samford where Jimbo Fisher proved to be a very good quarterback.  As LSU's OC, Jimbo Fisher established himself as a coach that knows how to develop college quarterbacks.  LSU fans have to like this similarity.  Before he arrived at TCU, Fuente proved to be an outstanding quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Illinois State.  And while new Clemson OC Chad Morris may prove to be a great OC, he has only coached one year at the college level while Justin Fuente has been coaching college since 2001.  Fuente is a young man.  He graduated from Murray State in 1999.  Should Fuente prove to be the right fit for LSU, he may not only turn around LSU's offense next season but for many seasons to come.