It seems that the dominoes that would have to fall for Matt Canada were no longer in place last week. Lane Kiffin did not get the Houston head coaching job. Kiffin was the favorite choice — by all reports — to be the OC under non-interim HC Ed Orgeron. Kiffin was ready to leave Alabama and they were ready for him to go.

Instead, Kiffin took a pay cut and will be the new head coach at Florida Atlantic.

Kiffin’s salary at FAU will average in the $1 million range annually, according to sources. He was making $1.4 million per year as Alabama’s offensive coordinator.

Brief digression. Recruiting in Florida is realistically tougher than ever. Forget the top tier schools there — FSU, Florida, Miami — and all the top-tier SEC schools that recruit the area. Competition for the underrated, diamonds-in-the-rough, athletic 3-star kids now has Charlie Strong (USF), Butch Davis (FIU) and Kiffin working to keep them in state. Pitt and a lot of other programs are going to have a lot more work to do if they want to pry kids out of Florida.

LSU, though, moved right on to Plan B. The reports — at least from the LSU side — are saying that Canada could make the move today.

LSU is zeroing in on Pittsburgh’s Matt Canada as its next offensive coordinator and an agreement could be reached as early as Tuesday, two sources with knowledge of the situation told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on Monday night.

Canada has emerged as the leading candidate and is scheduled to meet Tuesday with first-year coach Ed Orgeron and the rest of the staff.

Canada is estimated to have made close to $600K at Pitt last year. LSU pays their DC, Dave Aranda a base salary of $1.2 million plus some incentives.

Assuming LSU is prepared to pay him similarly to Aranda, I don’t know that Pitt could match that. They might be able to come within a $300,000, but I’m just not sure that Pitt is prepared or able to break the $1,000,000 barrier for a coordinator.

It’s easy for us to say that if the money is only within a few hundred thousand dollars he shouldn’t bother going. And yes, he has a comfort level and relationship with Pat Narduzzi, but to counter that he also had a relationship with Dave Doeren at NC State.

The two went back a number of years, but when Doeren’s seat started warming in 2015, Canada was scapegoated and fired. Canada knows how quickly things can change in coaching. Last year he was a retread OC. Now he’s a hot name.

Then there is his own career path. One big season at Pitt, and he was getting mentioned as a possible head coach candidate at schools outside the Power 5 conferences. He walked into a fantastic situation on offense. A veteran offensive line with real talent. A senior quarterback and tight end. A strong stable of running backs. Realistically there is no way the offense doesn’t take at least a small step back with having to replace the left side of the line, a new QB (either a redshirt freshman or a graduate transfer) and James Conner leaving for the NFL.

LSU has long had a moribund offense despite the plethora of talent. Imagine what that could do to Canada’s reputation and job prospects in a year or two if he is the one to finally get the LSU offense going.

Essentially he could bet on himself and get paid to do it.

As much as I want him to stay, I can’t disagree with his decision if he goes.