Bio Blast: Derek Shay

Kentucky has moved quickly to replace long-time assistant coach Vince Marrow on staff. As expected, head coach Mark Stoops has promoted. Similar to the move made when quality control assistant Scott Woodward was bumped to wide receivers coach ahead of the 2021 season, Stoops has promoted another support staffer.

Derek Shay has received his first on-field power conference coaching gig at age 34.

Derek Shay has been named our Tight Ends Coach.

📰🔗 – https://t.co/Wu1SeHQQRL pic.twitter.com/487JYrLfwE

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) June 13, 2025

We mentioned Shay as the No. 1 candidate on the most recent episode of “11 Personnel”. As expected, Stoops has moved quickly to fill this position. Now it’s time to find out just who Kentucky’s new tight ends coach is.

Illinois native

Derek Shay is a Cerro Gordo, Illinois, native who became his collegiate career playing offensive line at Western Illinois. The player would eventually transfer to Eastern Illinois where he would graduate with a education degree in 2013. But his coaching career would begin before Shay earned that diploma.

Shay served as a student assistant at his alma mater from 2011-13 for three seasons until graduation. From there, Shay landed at Bowling Green in 2014 and worked as a graduate assistant under head coach Dino Babers and offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert.

Former high school assistant coach

After one season in the MAC, Derek Shay started a high school coaching career working for powerhouse program Indianapolis (Ind.) Warren Central in 2015. Shay would spend two seasons there serving as a co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach before landing a notable job in the high school football space.

IMG Academy is a prep school in Florida that recruits top prospects from all over the country to come play at their school. The national powerhouse consistently pumps out blue-chip recruits. Shay spent two seasons working with some of the best offensive line prospects in high school football before heading back to college football.

Multiple quality control stops (with a couple of on-field roles mixed in)

Derek Shay left IMG Academy following the 2018 season to coach offensive tackles and tight ends at McNeese State under head coach Sterlin Gilbert. The relationships established at Bowling Green led to a full-time opportunity for Shay but the coach stayed in the FCS for just one season as Gilbert left McNeese to become the offensive coordinator at Syracuse under Dino Babers.

Shay landed at LSU and spent two seasons as a graduate assistant working for head coach Ed Orgeron. Shay worked with tight ends for two years in the Bayou. After Orgeron was fired, Shay moved to Missouri where he spent time on staff with Bush Hamdan at Missouri as a senior offensive analyst. That led to another one-year run as a on-field coach.

Shay joined Charles Huff’s Marshall staff in 2023 and worked as a tight ends coach for a Thundering Herd squad that played in the Frisco Bowl. Shay then decided to reunite with Hamdan when he landed the offensive coordinator gig at Kentucky.

A new hire with SEC and offensive line experience

Derek Shay is an offensive lineman who has spent a large chunk of his coaching career working with tight ends. The Midwest native has worked with three SEC programs and has had a key support staff role twice with Bush Hamdan. This is a move that made sense.

After his first season at Kentucky, Shay received a run game specialist title. The assistant was seen sitting next to Hamdan in the box during the 2024 season and is clearly someone that Kentucky’s play-caller seems to trust. Trust seems big right now after this week was filled with strained relationship chatter as Vince Marrow left his on-field role for an off-field role at Louisville.

Kentucky has added a coach with on-field experience and familiarity with the roster and coaching staff.