Bio Blast: Joe Sloan

There have been some staff rumblings over the first couple of days since Will Stein was hired by Kentucky. A general manager is in place and there was a report that UTSA offensive coordinator and Lexington (Ky.) Catholic alum Justin Burke could be returning home. Things are starting to come together. A big development occurred on Thursday afternoon.

Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator — and play caller — has SEC experience but his run at LSU did not end well. Joe Sloan will be moving to Lexington after spending the last 13 years in Louisiana. The former walk-on quarterback at East Carolina has been on a college football staff every year since 2010.

The new offensive coordinator in Lexington brings four years of play-calling experience and a solid recruiting track record to the table.

Support staff role at South Florida

After his playing career ended at East Carolina, Joe Sloan joined Skip Holtz‘s first coaching staff at South Florida in 2010. Sloan played for Holtz at East Carolina. The Virginia native would spent three years in Tampa working first in quality control before becoming a graduate assistant. Holtz would be fired following the 2012 season after finishing 16-21 during his stint in Tampa.

During that time, South Florida was in the Big East and competed against Louisville. In 2010, Justin Burke threw for 146 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-21 USF win in overtime. UofL then recorded consecutive victories over the Bulls with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback. Will Stein was on all three of those Charlie Strong teams.

Kentucky’s new head coach and offensive coordinator competed against each other in the Big East right when Sloan started his coaching career.

A long run with Skip Holtz

After losing his job at South Florida, former East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz resurfaced at Louisiana Tech. The son of Lou Holtz would spend nine seasons in Ruston taking the Bulldogs to seven consecutive bowl games from 2014-20 with three nine-win seasons, one double-digit win season, and a C-USA coach of the year award in 2016. Joe Sloan was a part of Holtz’s Louisiana Tech staff for all nine years.

At age 26, Sloan became at wide receivers coach and received a recruiting coordinator title in year two. The ECU alum became an assistant head coach in year three. In 2019, Sloan became the co-offensive coordinator working along with Tim Fitch on a Louisiana Tech team that won 10 games and defeated Miami in the Independence Bowl.

Then Sloan got a big promotion.

At age 33, Sloan would become a play-caller for the first time in his coaching career. In two seasons holding that role at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldog offense finished No. 106 and No. 93 in ESPN’s SP+ rankings. Sloan’s unit struggled to run the football (99.2 yards per game in 2020, 122.2 yards per game in 2021) and threw 30 total interceptions over two seasons. Holtz was fired after finishing 3-9 in 2021.

However, Sloan found a very nice landing spot where he didn’t have to leave the state.

A four-year run at LSU

Following the 2021 season, LSU moved on from Ed Orgeron and hired Brian Kelly to lead the Tigers. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock followed him to the SEC, but this program needed a quarterbacks coach since Denbrock coached tight ends.

That’s where Joe Sloan steppend.

In his first two seasons as a power conference assistant, Sloan worked directly with Jayden Daniels and helped the future first-round pick become the Heisman Trophy winner in 2023. That work with Daniels led to Kelly promoting Sloan to offensive coordinator in 2024 after Denbrock returned to Notre Dame. Sloan would then spend two years in the coordinator before LSU fired both him and Kelly in October following a home loss to Texas A&M.

LSU struggled to run the football under Sloan (116.4 yards per game in 2024) and Garrett Nussmeier (67.4% completion rate, 6.7 yards per attempt) had a highly disappointing senior season while playing through an injury in 2025. However, Nussmeier did throw for over 4,000 yards in 2024 as the offense averaged over 30 points per game.

The Tigers had a lot of issues in 2025 and that led to Sloan losing his job after eight games.

Joe Sloan’s offensive coordinator stat profile

Year	Points Per Drive	Success Rate	EPA/Play	Yards Per Play	Red Zone TD Percentage	SP+ Ranking
Louisiana Tech (2020)	1.60 (No. 108 nationally)	37% (No. 97 nationally)	-0.08 (No. 98 nationally)	4.49 (No. 122 nationally)	58.97% (No. 81 nationally)	106
Louisiana Tech (2021)	2.02 (No. 81 nationally)	40.4% (No. 82 nationally)	0.05 (No. 71 nationally)	5.58 (No. 80 nationally)	54.55% (No. 96 nationally)	93
LSU (2024)	2.60 (No. 35 nationally)	42.7% (No. 48 nationally)	0.07 (No. 39 nationally)	6.19 (No. 35 nationally)	56.60% (No. 94 nationally)	11
LSU (2025)	1.58 (No. 118 nationally)	37.5% (No. 123 nationally)	-0.09 (No. 120 nationally)	5.18 (No. 104 nationally)	48.78% (No. 124 nationally)	90

***Joe Sloan was the play caller for just eight games for LSU in 2025.

Recruiting track record

Joe Sloan has not been in power conference football long, but he has made an impact on the recruiting trail. In four years at LSU, the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Kentucky has logged some impressive recruiting wins.

• TE Trey’Dez Green (5-star, No. 31 nationally)
• WR Shelton Sampson Jr. (4-star, No. 80 nationally)
• DB Dashawn Spears (4-star, No. 88 nationally)
• QB Peyton Houston (4-star, No. 99 nationally)
• DB Kylin Jackson (4-star, No. 174 nationally)
• QB Rickie Collins (4-star, No. 234 natiionally)

Just about all of Sloan’s recruiting work was done in Louisiana as he quickly carved out a role as a very effective recruiter on Brian Kelly’s staff. Sloan earned a recruiting coordinator promotion at Louisiana Tech and that played out in the SEC. Due to all of his time in the state, Sloan has built strong ties in Louisiana. The play caller had LSU in position to sign No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood until Michigan swooped in at the last-minute with a massive NIL offer thanks to one of the richest guys on the planet.

There will be some questions about the recruiting results translating outside of Louisiana, but Sloan does have a solid track record.