Cam Cameron Season 2024
Cam Cameron, whose career includes head coaching positions at the NFL and collegiate level, was relieved of his LSU on September 25, 2016. Cameron spent 3-plus seasons with the Tigers as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The Tigers were 2-2 overall and 1-1 in Southeastern Conference play when he was dismissed in 2016.
In 42 games with the Tigers, Cameron’s offense featured a 100-yard rusher 33 times, including four games with two players over the 100-yard mark. During that 42-game span, LSU quarterbacks threw for 200 yards or more 17 times and on 11 occasions, the Tigers had a 100-yard rusher and a 200-yard passer in the same game.
In his first year at LSU in 2013 and with a veteran quarterback in Zach Mettenberger, Cameron’s offense had one of the most prolific seasons in school history, racking up a school-record 453.3 total yards per game, while scoring at 35.8 points a contest.
With first-time starters at quarterback in both 2014 and 2015, LSU relied heavily on its ground game and All-America running back Leonard Fournette. Fournette, the first player in LSU history to rush for 1,000 yards in his first two seasons, set school records for rushing yards (1,953), rushing TDs (22) and total TDs (23) in 2015 as the Tigers led the SEC with 256.8 rushing yards a game. LSU has averaged over 200 yards rushing a game for three straight seasons, marking just the third time in school history that’s ever happened (1976-78 and 1971-74)
First-year starter Brandon Harris continued to develop as the season progressed in 2015, capping his sophomore season by leading the Tigers to a 56-27 win over Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl. With Cameron calling the plays from the field for the first time since joining the Tigers, Harris engineered an LSU offense that racked up an LSU bowl record 638 total yards in the win over the Red Raiders. Harris completed his first season as LSUs starter by throwing for 2,165 yards, 13 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
In 2014, Anthony Jennings was the first of two straight first-year starters for Cameron. Jennings and the Tigers relied on Fournette and the Tiger running game to go 8-5 overall. LSU averaged 225 yards rushing and 387.5 total yards a game in 2014.
A native of Chapel Hill, N.C., Cameron joined the Tigers staff in February of 2013 after spending 14 seasons in the NFL where he coached some of the league’s top offensive players including Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson. Cameron has coached a combined 31 years at the collegiate and NFL levels, which includes a 5-year stint as the head coach at Indiana and one season at the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
In his first year at LSU in 2013, Cameron’s offense racked up the second-highest yardage total in school history with 5,893 yards and the Tigers set the school record for rushing TDs with 37. LSU also combined to run and pass for 60 touchdowns, just four shy of tying the school mark set in 2011.
Individually, LSU become first team in SEC history with a 3,000-yard passer (Zach Mettenberger), two 1,000-yard receivers (Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr.) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Jeremy Hill) in the same season. Landry and Beckham Jr. also became the first pair of receivers in LSU history to have 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.
Mettenberger became the first LSU quarterback to throw for 2,500-yards in back-to-back seasons, and he joined Rohan Davey and JaMarcus Russell as the only 3,000-yard passers in school history.
Hills 1,401 rushing yards at the time stood as the second-highest single-season total in school history, while his 6.9 yards per carry in 2013 were the most by a running back in SEC history. At the time, Hill tied the LSU record with seven 100-yard rushing games, which has since been broken by Fournette (10 in 2015).
All four of LSUs 2013 starters at offensive skill positions were selected in the 2014 NFL Draft with Beckham Jr. going 12th overall to the New York Giants, Landry (Miami Dolphins) and Hill (Cincinnati Bengals) both going in the second round and Mettenberger (Tennessee Titans) going in the sixth round. LSU had a total of seven offensive players picked in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Miles and Cameron served together on the Michigan coaching staff for seven years from 1987-93. Miles coached the offensive line for the Wolverines during that span, while Cameron coached quarterbacks and wide receivers.
Prior to joining the LSU staff, Cameron helped develop Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco into one of the best at his position in the NFL. Flacco was named Super Bowl MVP after leading the Ravens to a 34-31 win over San Francisco in the Super Bowl in February of 2013. He also became the first quarterback in NFL history to lead his team to the playoffs in each of his first five seasons, all of which came under Cameron’s watch.
Prior to his five years in Baltimore, Cameron served as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2007 going 1-15 in his only season as a NFL head coach.
Cameron had tremendous success as the offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers from 2002-06, helping the franchise to the playoffs twice, going 14-2 in 2006 and 12-4 in 2004.
In 2006, Cameron’s play-calling helped the Chargers lead the NFL in scoring with 492 points, and Tomlinson was named the NFLs MVP by the Associated Press after setting a franchise record with 1,815 rushing yards and 31 total touchdowns. Six members of the Charger offensive unit were named to the Pro Bowl that year.
Future Hall of Fame quarterback Brees got his first NFL start under Cameron as he spent four of his first five years in the league with the LSU offensive coordinator. Cameron was named the NFL Offensive Assistant Coach of the Year by SportsIllustrated.com in 2004 as Brees was selected to the Pro Bowl along with being picked the NFL Comeback Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year.
In four years under Cameron, Brees threw for over 12,000 yards and 79 touchdowns, while Tomlinson rushed for over 1,300 yards each season.
As head coach at Indiana from 1997-2001, Cameron helped create quarterback Antwaan Randle El into one of the most dynamic players in college football history. Randle El became the first player in NCAA Division I history to pass for 40 career touchdowns and rush for 40 career TDs. He finished fifth on the NCAA all-time total yardage list with 11,364 yards (7,469 passing, 3,895 rushing) and was sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting as a senior in 2001.
Cameron’s five-year record with the Hoosiers was 18-37 with his best season coming in 2001 when Indiana won four of its last five games and posted a 5-6 mark with wins over Wisconsin and Michigan State.
A 1983 graduate of Indiana with a degree in business, Cameron broke into coaching in 1984 serving as a graduate assistant under legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. After two years as a graduate assistant with the Wolverines, Cameron was elevated to wide receivers coach in 1986. He held that role for four years before adding quarterbacks to his list of responsibilities in 1990. Cameron served on the Michigan staff through 1993 when he moved to the NFL as the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Redskins.
As a collegiate player, Cameron played both football and basketball at Indiana. He appeared in 22 football games as a quarterback and in 30 games for the basketball team. Cameron earned two letters as a quarterback for the Hoosiers, playing for Lee Corso in 1982 and Sam Wyche in 1983, before a knee injury cut his senior season short. He also played basketball for Bobby Knight, earning a pair of letters in 1981-82 and 1982-83. Cameron was a member of Indiana’s 1983 Big Ten Championship Team in basketball.
The Cameron File
Year at LSU: Fourth (appointed Feb. 15, 2013; fired September 25, 2016)
Birthdate: Feb. 6, 1961, in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Wife: Missy
Children: Tommy, Danny, Christopher, Elizabeth
High School: South Vigo (Terre Haute, Ind.), ‘79
College: Indiana, ‘83
Playing Experience
1979-83 Indiana (football and basketball)
Coaching Experience
1984-85 Michigan (graduate assistant)
1986-93 Michigan (quarterbacks/wide receivers)
1994-96 Washington Redskins (quarterbacks)
1997-2001 Indiana (head coach)
2002-06 San Diego Chargers (offensive coordinator)
2007 Miami Dolphins (head coach)
2008-12 Baltimore Ravens (offensive coordinator)
2013-16 LSU (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks)
Bowl Experience
As a coach
Season, Bowl, Team, Opponent, Results
1987, Outback, Michigan, Alabama, W, 28-24
1988, Rose, Michigan, Southern Cal, W, 22-14
1989, Rose, Michigan, Southern Cal, L, 17-10
1990, Gator, Michigan, Ole Miss, W, 35-3
1991, Rose, Michigan, Washington, L, 34-14
1992, Rose, Michigan, Washington, W, 38-31
1993, Outback, Michigan, N.C. State, W, 42-7
2013, Outback, LSU, Iowa, W, 21-14
2014, Music City, LSU, Notre Dame, L, 31-28
2015, Texas, LSU, Texas Tech, W, 56-27