Hot Board: Kentucky Offensive Coordinator

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops made the hard call on Tuesday. After one disappointing season with offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, the Cats have decided to go in another direction. For the fourth time in four seasons, UK will have a new play-caller in 2023.

With a very active transfer portal period expected to start on Dec. 5 along with National Signing Day a couple of weeks later, Kentucky is entering a very busy and critical few weeks for the football program. That period just got even more important as a huge coaching search starts now.

A lot is riding on Stoops to get this next hire right. The head coach also may need to commit to making some philosophical changes to the style of play. Also, with the changes that the transfer portal and NIL have brought to college football, it feels like Power Five experience is going to be a big requirement for the new candidate.

KSR has compiled a list of seven names that could emerge as prime candidates for Stoops in this upcoming search. Enough of the small talk. Let’s get to the candidates in alphabetical order.

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Rob Calabrese (New York Jets QBs coach)

• 32 years old
• Zero Power Five experience
• Second year as full-time NFL position coach

Let’s start with where last year’s search ended. Rob Calabrese’s mentor — Rich Scangarello — entered the Kentucky offensive coordinator search late and seemingly edged out the rising young offensive coach that played quarterback at UCF. Zach Wilson has been a disappointment this year, but Calabrese has guided both Joe Flacco and Mike White to wins as the Jets are on the verge of making the playoffs under head coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur. Each came from the San Francisco 49ers organization.

However, will Mark Stoops be willing to take another swing at this wide zone offense that simply hasn’t been a fit in Lexington through two full seasons?

Liam Coen (Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator)

• 37 years old
• Kentucky offensive coordinator (2021)

Can’t believe Liam Coen is back in this chat, but it’s important to recognize what is real right now. The Rams are having a woeful year on offense and do not have much draft capital. A long rebuild is inevitable for the NFC West franchise. Sean McVay could step away to do television at any moment or could try to make staff changes.

Meanwhile, Coen’s work in Lexington looks much, much better after the season the Cats just had under Rich Scangarello. Meanwhile, there is money to be spent. Would Coen be willing to quit the NFL path after just one season for a big payday in the SEC?

I’m skeptical but never say never. Kentucky could be desperate, and the Rams are entering a pretty big transition phase. A reunion doesn’t seem impossible.

Brian Hartline (Ohio State WRs coach & passing game coordinator)

• 36 years old
• Six seasons on Ohio State’s staff working under Urban Meyer and Ryan Day
• One of the top recruiters in college football

When looking for some of the top non-play calling assistants in college football, you won’t have to look long to find Brian Hartline. The former fourth-round pick who spent seven seasons in the NFL has made Ohio State WRU with a pipeline of blue-chippers in Columbus that are turning into All-Americans and draft picks.

There is no play-calling experience, and you would need to find someone to coach quarterbacks, but Hartline checks a lot of boxes. His strong recruiting connections could work very well as Kentucky searches for a quarterback in the transfer portal and a modern college approach would be brought to take advantage of Kentucky’s talent at receiver.

There is a lot to like about Hartline, but he does appear to be a head coaching candidate for the Cincinnati job at the moment.

Kevin Johns (Duke offensive coordinator)

• 46 years old
• Offensive coordinator at Indiana (2014-16), Western Michigan (2017), Texas Tech (2018), Memphis (2019-21), and Duke (2022)
• Ties to Bob Stoops coaching tree

Kevin Wilson worked at Oklahoma for Bob Stoops from 2002-10 with the last five seasons as the play-caller in Norman. His success there with some big-time scoring offenses opened up an opportunity to run his own program at Indiana. In 2014, Wilson hired Johns to run his offense.

After Wilson was relieved of his duties for some player treatment issues, Johns made multiple stops. Most notably, the Ohio native worked for Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech before a good three-year run at Memphis got the play-caller back in the Power Five.

In his first season at Duke, the Blue Devils went 8-4 and scored 33.1 points per game with good balance out of a spread scheme. A modern college approach and staff familiarity could make Johns a possibility.

Brian Johnson (Philadelphia Eagles QBs coach)

• 35 years old
• 11 years spent as a college assistant
• Offensive coordinator at Utah (2012-13), Houston (2017), and Florida (2020)
• Dan Mullen tree

The Eagles have the most intriguing offense in pro football this season and they’re doing it with a creative run game. That could make Brian Johnson an intriguing candidate.

Auburn Live has reported that Johnson interviewed for the Auburn head coaching job. The former Mississippi State and Florida assistant has an intriguing background and looks like a rising star in the profession.

Would a chance to run his own offense after being Mullen’s No. 2 at Mississippi State and Florida be enough to pull Johnson from the NFL?

Dan Mullen

• 50 years old
• Head coach at Mississippi State (2009-17) and Florida (2018-21)
• Offensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at Florida (2005-08)

We also need to throw Brian Johnson’s former boss into the equation.

Things ended poorly for Dan Mullen at Florida as the long-time SEC head coach had multiple issues sustaining success at a program that expects national championships, but the accomplishments are almost impossible to ignore.

Mullen consistently produced top 40 offenses at Mississippi State and had the Bulldogs in the national championship picture in 2014. Mullen’s Florida was the last team to knock off Kirby Smart’s Georgia in the SEC East behind a top-10 offense that threw the football all over the yard.

Mullen’s teams have consistently been able to run the football with physicality, and he’s developed strong passing games at multiple SEC schools. This sounds like exactly what Mark Stoops would want at Kentucky.

But what would the interest level be for Mullen? Currently, the former SEC coach is employed by ESPN but is not getting much interest during this carousel. Would that be enough to push him to take an offensive coordinator gig in the SEC?

There is a lot Kentucky could offer Mullen. Most notably, he would get to take a swing at Florida on the field.

Brennan Marion (Texas WRs coach & passing game coordinator)

• 35 years old
• Called plays at Howard (2017-18) and William & Mary (2019)
• Worked for Pittsburgh (2021) and was an integral part of an ACC championship team

Brennan Marion’s GoGo offense got the attention of many in the football community while at Howard and William & Mary as the former Tulsa wide receiver put together an offense with triple option principles into a spread scheme. Since then, Marion has given up play-calling to learn under Mark Whipple at Pitt and Steve Sarkisian at Texas.

Marion is a fast-rising name who will soon get a shot to be a head coach. Kentucky could provide a step forward to call plays if the Cats are looking for a more modern approach that still heavily emphasizes the ground game.