By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
One of the masterminds behind one of the greatest offenses in college football history and the best in LSU history in 2019 – pass game coordinator Joe Brady – has been named the new head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
Brady, 36, had been the Bills’ very successful offensive coordinator in 2024 and ’25 and the quarterbacks coach in 2022 and ’23. He was the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator in 2020 and ’21 after leaving LSU following that one championship season in 2019 in which Brady rode the arm of quarterback Joe Burrow to the national championship at 15-0. Brady replaces fired coach Sean McDermott.
Burrow, who also became LSU’s first Heisman Trophy winner since Billy Cannon in 1959 that season, became the first and last college player in history to gain 6,000 or more total yards in a season as he finished with 6,039 – 5,671 passing and 368 rushing in 2019-20. He led the nation in passing yards (5,671) and set the the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) record for touchdowns with 60 that remains and the passing efficiency record (202.0) at the time. He still holds the record for touchdowns responsible for with 65 as he rushed for five TDs that season.
Brady got a lot of the credit for Burrow and LSU’s offense in 2019, but offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger called most of the plays and had installed the five-wide-receiver offense used in 2019 late in the 2018 season with Burrow, a graduate transfer from Ohio State after the 2017 season.
The Tigers led the nation in total offense (568.4 yards a game) and scoring offense (48.4 points a game) in 2019 and was second in passing offense (401.6 yards a game).
LSU coach Ed Orgeron hired Brady from a minor offensive assistant role with the New Orleans Saints in 2017 and ’18 under Saints’ offensive mastermind head coach Sean Payton. As Brady began to get known for the offense in ’19, Payton struggled in interviews to remember exactly what Brady did with the Saints.
A native of the Miami area, Brady was a wide receiver at Air Force in 2008 and at William & Mary from 2009-12. He was a linebackers assistant at William & Mary in 2013 and ’14 and a graduate assistant at Penn State in 2015 and ’16 before catching on with the Saints.
In addition to Brady, other former LSU assistant coaches who have become NFL head coaches include Bill Peterson (1955-59 at LSU), who was head coach of the Houston Oilers in 1972 (1-13) and 1973 (0-5), John North (1962-64 at LSU), who was head coach of the New Orleans Saints in 1973 (5-9), 1974 (5-9) and 1975 (1-5), former LSU graduate assistant coach (2000 at LSU) and defensive assistant (2001-02 at LSU) Adam Gase, who was head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2016-18 (10-6, 6-10, 7-9) and New York Jets in 2019-20 (7-9, 2-14), former LSU graduate assistant coach Freddie Kitchens (2000 at LSU), who was head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2019 (6-10), and former LSU assistant coach Todd Monken (2005-06 at LSU), who became the Cleveland Browns head coach after the 2025 season.
Former LSU head coach Nick Saban (2000-04 at LSU) was head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2005 (9-7) and 2006 (6-10).
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