Bush Hamdan leaves Mississippi State for Miami Dolphins

A former Kentucky assistant coach has found a new job. This one will require him to leave the other new job he just found. Yet another former Mark Stoops staffer is heading to the NFL.

After a cup of coffee at Mississippi State, former Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan will be joining Jeff Halfley‘s first coaching staff with the Miami Dolphins as a quarterbacks coach.

The #Dolphins are expected to hire Mississippi State associate head coach for offense Bush Hamdan as quarterbacks coach, sources tell @CBSSports.

The ex-Boise State QB previously worked in the NFL as the Falcons QB coach and helped Matt Ryan rank sixth in passing yards in 2017. pic.twitter.com/m6gSf7zNTa

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) February 13, 2026

Bush Hamdan, 39, spent the last two seasons as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator. The former Boise State quarterback played for Chris Petersen and worked for him for Washington from 2015-16 and 2018-19. In the middle of those two-year stints was a season spent with the Atlanta Falcons in 2017 as quarterbacks coach. Now the long-time college assistant is returning to the NFL nine years later after accepting an associate head coach for offense role at Mississippi State in December. After two months in Starkville, Hamdan will be headed to South Florida.

There will be more than one former Kentucky assistant in the offensive staff meetings for the Dolphins in 2026. Former offensive line coach Zach Yenser received his first primary offensive line coach role in the NFL from the Dolphins. He is reuniting with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik after the two spent time together with the San Francisco 49ers from 2019-21 and with the Houston Texans in 2024.

Bush Hamdan become a consecutive Kentucky offensive coordinator to leave for the NFL after Liam Coen (twice) and Rich Scangarello landed NFL jobs after separating from the Wildcats.

Kentucky’s quick offensive stat profile under Bush Hamdan

Year	Points Per Drive	Success Rate	EPA/Play	Yards Per Play	Red Zone TD Percentage	SP+ Ranking
2024	1.61 (No. 115)	39.4% (No. 97)	-0.12 (No. 123)	5.25 (No. 107)	52.94% (No. 109)	89
2025	1.72 (No. 105)	42.8% (No. 55)	-0.01 (No. 85)	5.12 (No. 111)	66.67% (No. 32)	81

Where former Kentucky coaches landed this offseason

Coach	Position at Kentucky	New Organization	New Position
Bush Hamdan	Offensive Coordinator	Miami Dolphins	Quarterbacks
Brad White	Defensive Coordinator	Florida	Defensive Coordinator
Chris Collins	Defensive Backs	Florida	Safeties
L’Damian Washington	Wide Receivers	Ole Miss	Wide Receivers
Eric Wolford	Offensive Line	LSU	Offensive Line
Derek Shay	Tight Ends	Texas A&M	Tight Ends
Mike Hartline	Offensive Quality Control	South Florida	Quarterbacks
Chase Heuke	Director of Recruiting	Louisville	Director of Recruiting
Brad Lambert	Defensive Analyst	Marshall	Defensive Coordinator
Jay Boulware	Special Teams Coordinator/Running Backs	West Virginia	Running Backs
Kevin Barbay	Offensive Analyst	Tulsa	Offensive Coordinator
Dean Hood	Director of Player Development	Marshall	Safeties
Nate Fuqua	Defensive Analyst/Outside Linebackers	Tulane	Co-Defensive Coordinator/Bandits