Coaching Carousel: Kentucky Assistants on Hot Boards

In the world of the College Football Coaching Carousel, most of the Big Blue Nation is focused on who Mark Stoops will hire as the Wildcats’ next offensive coordinator. Meanwhile, other Kentucky assistants have been connected to head coaching vacancies elsewhere. A brief roundup of the latest spin around this wild merry-go-round.

Mike Stoops — UNLV

Mark’s brother replaced Jon Sumrall as Kentucky’s linebackers coach this offseason after one year at Florida Atlantic. A longtime Oklahoma defensive coordinator, he spent two seasons as an analyst for Nick Saban in-between coaching stints. Now he’s being tied to the head coaching vacancy at UNLV.

Mike Stoops has a connection to UNLV. Athletic director Erick Harper worked with the older Stoops brother at Kansas State and followed him to Arizona when Mike became the Wildcats’ head coach. There are murmurs the two may reunite and one prominent Twitter personality is calling his shot. A return to head coaching out west may be in the cards for Mike Stoops.

Kentucky Current and Former Coordinators — Louisville

While we were all still laughing at Scott Satterfield and Louisville, coaching carousel reporters were scrambling to assemble a list of candidates. There’s one obvious name, but what happens if the Cards fail to ‘Bring Brohm Home’ again?

Chris Vannini from The Athletic assembled a list that included a few household names around the BBN. Liam Coen, Brad White and Matt House were the next three coaches he included on his short list. Are any of these serious candidates? This blogger has his reservations, particularly with the defensive coordinators. Louisville fans adore high-flying offenses and that will be a priority if Brohm is not the man for the job. But let’s all get real, it’s his job for the taking. The former Card and current Purdue head coach danced around questions this morning, but I would not be surprised if he was smiling in Louisville gear by this time next week.

JEFF BROHM ASKED ABOUT HIS INTEREST IN THE LOUISVILLE JOB | "To be quite honest, I know no more than you guys do. I was in meetings this morning . . . found out on Twitter. . . . Other than that, no more information."

— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) December 5, 2022

Seth Littrell — North Texas

Kentucky is in the marker for a running backs coach. Mike Stoops’ former running backs coach just got on the market. The two worked together at Arizona between 2009-11.

Seth Littrell actually put together an impressive run in seven seasons at North Texas. With the head coach’s back against the ropes, the Mean Green won five straight games to cap off the 2021 season, earn a bowl bid and preserve his job. This year he led North Texas to the C-USA Championship Game, but there weren’t enough wins to appease an administration that wants to generate excitement entering the AAC.

Landing Littrell in Lexington feels like a long shot. If they do, expect to see the Wildcats pursue more players from the Lone Star State.