Report: Louisville expected to hire Notre Dame assistant as offensive coordinator

The Louisville Cardinals are reportedly close to hiring a new offensive coordinator. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Louisville is expected to hire Notre Dame running backs coach and run game coordinator Lance Taylor.

“Sources: Louisville is expected to hire Lance Taylor as the new offensive coordinator, ESPN has learned,” Thamel tweeted. “Taylor is the run game coordinator/RB coach at Notre Dame and coached WRs in the NFL at the Carolina Panthers. He coached Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love at Stanford.”

Taylor has become well regarded in coaching circles for his continued strong work with his running backs. As Thamel mentioned, Taylor previously worked at Stanford, where he coached Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. Taylor’s work with McCaffrey was impressive, as he broke out as one of the top players in all of football, was a Heisman finalist, and was named the AP Player of the Year in 2015.

While at Notre Dame, Taylor again did great work with his running back, this time Kyren Williams. Williams had his second straight 1,000-yard rushing season, and is likely to be selected in the NFL Draft.

It was reported on Saturday that Taylor was a top candidate to become Louisville’s new offensive coordinator.

Taylor will bring versatility to Louisville’s offense

In his coaching career, Taylor has coached all around the offensive side of the ball. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Alabama, becoming Appalachian State’s wide receivers intern in 2009. In 2010, Taylor departed for the NFL, where he spent three years with the New York Jets. There, he began as a coaching intern, later serving as an offensive quality control coach and assistant tight ends coach.

Taylor joined the Carolina Panthers’ staff in 2013 as the team’s assistant wide receivers coach. He then spent the 2014-2016 seasons at Stanford. From 2017-2018, Taylor returned to the Panthers in the NFL, becoming Carolina’s wide receivers coach.

Taylor’s versatility and experience all over the offense will be valuable for Louisville and head coach Scott Satterfield. The Cardinals went 6-7 this season. Taylor will now be coaching Malik Cunningham, who is one of the top dual threat players in all of college football. This season, Cunningham threw for 2,941 yards and 19 touchdowns, and he had over 1,000 rushing yards with 20 scores on the ground.