Former Kentucky staffer Dean Hood has moved to Sun Belt

One could safely call the college football calendar hectic. Once the season ends on Thanksgiving weekend, player and coach movement happen at a high rate of speed. Many developments can slip through the cracks. We know that many of the former Kentucky staffers under Mark Stoops have landed at power conference programs. Another is leave a support staff role for an on-field position.

Former Kentucky director of player development Dean Hood has left Lexington for Marshall. Hood, 62, is the new safeties coach for second-year head coach Tony Gibson.

Dean Hood spent the last two seasons at Kentucky. This was Hood’s second stint at UK after serving as a defensive assistant and special teams coordinator under Stoops from 2017-19. The Ohio native was the head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2008-15 and at Murray State from 2020-23. Hood led the Colonels to three FCS playoff appearances before posting two winning records in two seasons in Murray.

Before his run at EKU started, Dean Hood was the defensive coordinator at Wake Forest from 2001-07. During that time, Brad Lambert was the linebackers coach on the same staff. Lambert spent the 2025 season at UK in a quality control role. Now the two will be working together in the same defensive staff room in Huntington after Lambert accepted a defensive coordinator gig at Marshall.

Yet another former Kentucky staffer has found a new college football home.

Another support staffer finds a new home

Dean Hood was not the only former Kentucky defensive staffer to find a new full-time job. Nate Fuqua is joining a Tulane staff that still has some UK holdovers from the Jon Sumrall staff.

Welcome to Uptown, @OLBeastCoach03! 🌊#UptownFootball | #AIE pic.twitter.com/uYRfFHqxVJ

— Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) January 22, 2026

The Bluegrass native was the defensive coordinator at Georgia State from 2017-22 before joining Scott Sattefield’s Cincinnati staff in 2023. After a two-year run in the Big 12, Fuqua returned home for one season before joining Will Hall’s first Tulane staff this offseason.

Where former Kentucky coaches landed this offseason

Coach	Position at Kentucky	New School	New Position
Bush Hamdan	Offensive Coordinator	Mississippi State	Associate Head Coach for Offense
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