Report: Kentucky targeting Boise State's Bush Hamdan as next offensive coordinator

Kentucky is targeting Boise State‘s Bush Hamdan as its next offensive coordinator, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The deal is “expected to come together in the upcoming days.”

Hamdan has SEC coaching experience, previously serving as Missouri‘s quarterbacks coach from 2020 through 2022. Before that, he was the wide receivers coach at Florida in 2012. He spent one season with Boise State. He replaces Liam Coen, who took the job to become the OC for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL.

His lone season coaching at his alma mater saw him coach running back Ashton Jeanty to become the Mountain West’s leading rusher with 1,351 yards. He doubled that up by being the conference’s all purpose yardage leader totaling 1,920 yards in 2023.

He utilized two quarterbacks throughout the season. Taylen Green and Maddux Madsen combined for 3,098 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Boise State’s rushing approach saw the Broncos compile 560 rushing attempts for 3,008 total rushing yards with 34 touchdowns to show for it. Jeanty scored 14 of those, but three other players totaled over 330 yards on the year as well, including Green who scored nine touchdowns out of the backfield.

Those numbers ranked Boise state No. 6 nationally in total rushing offense. They averaged 214.9 rushing yards per game under Hamdan’s guide.

While in the SEC at Missouri, the Tigers earned a bowl bid in each season Hamdan was on staff and Missouri ranked 32nd in the country in passing offense in 2020.

Now heading to Lexington, there is plenty of room for improvement as he takes over for Coen. In 2023, the Wildcats ranked 83rd in passing offense (211.6 yards per game), 95th in rushing offense (127.8 yards per game) and 98th in total offense (339.5 yards per game).

During Coen’s latest stint at Kentucky the Wildcats boasted the nation’s No. 58 scoring offense, averaging 29.1 points per game. In his first stint in 2021, Kentucky finished ranked No. 35 nationally, scoring 32.3 points per game.

Hamdan will try to improve on those numbers coaching some of the top transfers in this years cycle at their respective positions in QB Brock Vandagriff and RB Chip Trayanum, among the multitude of returning talent such as standout wide receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key.

Under Hamdan’s guide, Kentucky will kick off its 2024 college football season inside Kroger Field against Southern Miss on Aug. 31.