Missouri star Brady Cook is big fan of Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan

Kentucky is making a change at offensive coordinator for the fifth time in five seasons in 2024. After going to the NFL the last three years, Mark Stoops decided to hire a college offensive coordinator for the first time since Eddie Gran left Cincinnati following the 2015 season. The Wildcats need former Boise State offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan to deliver this fall.

The 38-year-old play-caller spent one season in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons working under Steve Sarkisian as quarterbacks coach but that was his only year out of college football. Hamdan has coached both quarterbacks and wide receivers on top of spending four seasons (2012, 2020-22) in the SEC at Florida and Missouri. In between that, Hamdan was Chris Petersen‘s offensive coordinator at Washington from 2018-19 before returning to his alma mater last fall.

Hamdan has his first full-time offensive coordinator gig in a power conference since 2019 at Kentucky. In 2022, Eliah Drinkwitz gave up play-calling in November which led to Hamdan calling plays for an offense that averaged 32.7 points per outing over a three-game run as quarterback Brady Cook hit a different gear accumulating eight total touchdowns and rushing for 341 non-sack yards on over 11 yards per rush.

Cook took off one year later passing for 3,317 yards and averaging nine yards per attempt for a passing game that finished No. 14 overall in success rate and No. 15 in EPA/play. Cook is a big fan of Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator.

“Bush is the man. Coach Hamdan taught me so much. He was my quarterback coach for a while. He coached receivers at Mizzou. But he made a huge impact on our program. A huge impact on me. We still stay in touch all the time,” Cook told KSR at SEC Media Days. “He’s always texting me. Texting me and Drink. Salt of the earth person, salt of the earth coach.”

“I’m excited about his new role at Kentucky, and I think he’s going to do great. I think Kentucky got a good one.”

After leaving Missouri, Hamdan got a chance to run his own offense and delivered a top-25 unit that helped Boise State win a Mountain West title despite undergoing a head coaching change in the middle of the season. The Broncos started multiple quarterbacks, finished top-15 in rushing EPA/play and success rate, and No. 15 in yards per play. Ashton Jeanty became one of the best tailbacks in college football and Taylen Green did enough under Hamdan’s watch to make Bobby Petrino believe the Boise State quarterback could succeed at Arkansas.

Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan has some fans in the SEC. The Wildcats are hoping that the play-calling success the newest offensive coordinator had at Missouri and Boise State translates to Lexington. A strong offensive year could raise the ceiling for Stoops’ 12th team this fall.