NEW ORLEANS — Plans can change, but right now Joe Brady isn’t planning on leaving LSU.
The Tigers’ passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach, who has been so integral in the development of Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and the nation’s top-scoring offense, has agreed through a memorandum of agreement to a new, three-year contract with the school that will more than double his $410,000 salary, according to Sports Illustrated.
“I hope I’m a Tiger as long as they want me at LSU,” Brady, the Broyles Award winner as the nation’s top assistant, said Saturday at media day for Monday’s national championship game. “My intentions are being at LSU.”
There was a report that new Panthers coach Matt Rhule has interest in hiring the 30-year-old Brady as his offensive coordinator. But Brady, who came to LSU this season after two years as a Saints offensive assistant, said he hasn’t spoken to anyone about the job or even considered going back to the NFL. LSU coach Ed Orgeron had said the school was working on a new contract with Brady and was hopeful he will be back.
“But I do believe the talks we’ve had with Joe are very, very positive and he’s going to be at LSU,” Orgeron said.
At this time last year, almost everyone wanted to expand the College Football Playoff. Now, that talk has died down somewhat after a season in which there were three clear teams — LSU, Clemson and Ohio State — above the rest.
“There’s less talk among reporters and other folks about the format this year than there was last year,” Bill Hancock, the playoff committee’s executive director, told The Post. “Why make LSU, Clemson and Ohio State go play another game to get to the semifinals, when they’ve already played a full season and identified themselves as the three best teams? There’s a lot of merit in that.”
A board meeting will be held Monday, in which several topics will be discussed. One will be the potential of expanding the playoff in the future. The current 12-year contract is up in 2026.
“My bosses are very happy with the CFP, but out of good business practice, they’re talking about the future,” Hancock said. “Nothing is imminent.”
LSU missed the boat on Clemson star running back Travis Etienne, but it could land his younger brother Trevor, a sophomore running back at Jennings High School in Louisiana. LSU prioritized five-star running back Cam Akers over Etienne and ended up missing out on both of them in Orgeron’s 2017 recruiting class.
“They’re definitely tried to rectify that with my little brother,” Travis said. “They offered my little brother a scholarship. Just want to do things differently. My situation already happened. Hopefully they learned and hopefully they just take care of my little brother.”
