Indiana football coach returns to lead NIU offense
Matt Canada, a member of the Northern Illinois coaching staff during one of the most successful eras in NIU's history, will return to Northern Illinois in 2011 as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, head coach Dave Doeren announced Thursday. Canada spent six seasons (1998-2003) as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois under former head coach Joe Novak, working with the NIU running backs (1998-2000) and quarterbacks (2001-02) before taking over as offensive coordinator in the Huskies' landmark 2003 season.
Canada has spent the last seven years at Indiana University, where he coached the Hoosiers' quarterbacks each season, became passing game coordinator in 2005 and 2006, and served as offensive coordinator for the past four years.
“I am so excited to announce Matt Canada's return to NIU,” Doeren said. “Having competed against Matt the last five years I have great respect for his ability to adapt his scheme to the strengths of his players. I know he is very excited to have the offensive talent he will inherit on his arrival to NIU. Matt has a great love for NIU and the community from his time here on Coach Novak's staff. He brings a wealth of experience in the MAC and Big Ten Conference as a play caller and recruiter.”
At Northern Illinois, Canada was part of the staff that revived the Huskie program, from a team that was 2-9 in his first season of 1998 to the team that upset Maryland, Alabama and Iowa State en route to a No. 12 Associated Press and No. 10 BCS ranking in 2003.
Canada coached players whose names fill the Huskie record books, including current Atlanta Falcons' running back and 2003 second-team All-American Michael Turner, fellow thousand-yard rushers William Andrews and Thomas Hammock, and quarterbacks Chris Finlen and Josh Haldi, who rank among the top five quarterbacks in school history in passing and total offense. The Huskie offense under Canada also featured current Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Ryan Diem and former New York Jets and Tennessee Titans wide receiver Justin McCareins.
“It is an exciting time to be a Huskie,” Canada said. “When we left seven years ago it was a special time, and the program has only gotten better. I'm excited to see the new facilities, the things that were talked about and planned while we were there. The groundwork was laid in 2003, and to come back and be able to see some of the results of that is very, very exciting.
At Indiana, Canada's quarterbacks (Ben Chappell, Kellen Lewis and Blake Powers) over the past seven seasons hold the top three spots in single season touchdowns, yards, completions, attempts and completion percentage. In four years as IU offensive coordinator, the Hoosiers had an All-American (James Hardy), three first team All-Big Ten receivers, an all-conference left tackle and an all-league quarterback (Lewis). Chappell led the Big Ten in passing yards, completions and attempts in 2010 while setting the Indiana single-season records in all three categories.
Indiana set a school record and finished 13th nationally in passing with 287.2 yards per game. The Hoosiers averaged 27.2 points per game and scored 35-plus points five times.
Canada is the first offensive assistant coach named by Doeren, who previously announced the hiring of Brad Ohrt as director of sports performance, Jay Niemann as defensive coordinator/safeties coach and Ryan Nielsen as defensive line coach.