Report: Akron to announce Oregon assistant as next head coach

Akron appears to have its man. According to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, Akron is expected to announce Oregon offensive coordinator as its next head coach on Saturday. Moorhead has previously worked as an assistant at Akron.

“Sources: Akron will announce Oregon OC Joe Moorhead as the school’s next head coach today,” Thamel tweeted. “He’s a former assistant there and former head coach at Mississippi State and Fordham.”

It was reported earlier in the week that Akron was expected to hire Moorhead following Oregon’s Pac-12 Championship game on Friday. Oregon lost on Friday night to Utah, falling 38-10.

Moorhead is from Pittsburgh and went to Fordham. He spent five years at Akron as an assistant, including a stint as the team’s offensive coordinator. Moorhead also has stops at Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Connecticut, and Penn State as an assistant. He was Fordham’s head coach from 2012-2015 and Mississippi State’s head coach from 2018-2019. As a head coach, Moorhead has a 52-25 record, including an 0-2 mark in bowl games.

Akron hopes Moorhead’s offensive mind can help turn things around

Akron went 2-10 this season. The last two games were blowout losses by 38 and 35 points. On the season, Akron allowed 64 sacks, which is the most in the FBS by a 14-sack margin. Moorhead is regarded as one of the top offensive minds in college football, so Akron is hoping that he can help turn things around.

The Zips moved on from former head coach Tom Arth earlier in the season. Arth was 3-24 at Akron, which included an 0-12 record in 2019.

Oregon’s offense was good under Moorhead. The Ducks were third in the Pac-12 by averaging 434.4 yards per game. Oregon also scored 31.4 points per game, and that total came down in recent weeks after the Ducks lost two of their final three games, both coming against Utah.

Ahead of the Pac-12 Championship, Moorhead said that he is only focusing on the game ahead. He said that he will “deal with anything that happens after that.”

“All I can say is that all of my focus and attention is on doing the things that are necessary to help our offense prepare to play well,” Moorhead said.