Hot Board 2.0: Potential Kentucky offensive coordinator candidates

Liam Coen took the Big Blue Nation on a fun ride in 2021 producing a top-25 offense and making some legitimate splashes on the recruiting trail. However, Sean McVay came calling and it appears that Coen will be a one-and-done at Kentucky.

Kentucky must now move on to find a third offensive coordinator in three seasons and Mark Stoops is now on his fifth search for a play-caller as he enters his 10th season running the football program at the University of Kentucky.

KSR’s Coaching Search Firm Department is doing its part and producing some names that could become the next man to wear the headset and hold the call sheet at Kroger Field. However, it’s important to recognize what Mark Stoops wants in an offensive coordinator.

***UPDATE: After doing some more digging, KSR has discovered two more potential candidates from NFL. Scroll to learn about Brian Johnson and Kevin Patullo.***

Previous offensive coordinator search told us a lot

When Mark Stoops was first hired, it was clear that the Florida State defensive coordinator was going to follow in the footsteps of his brothers. Both Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) and Mike Stoops (Arizona) leaned into the Air Raid tree to put points on the scoreboard.

That worked out well for both, but it didn’t work out too well for the youngest Stoops. After Neal Brown left for Troy, Stoops brought Shannon Dawson in from West Virginia, and the experiment failed quickly. Facing a sink or swim moment heading into year four, Stoops went with what he knew and hired Eddie Gran from Cincinnati.

However, the running backs coach struggled with both quarterback recruiting and development. When Stoops made a change after the 2020 season, Kentucky’s head coach knew the exact blend he wanted. Stoops targeted a coach with a strong passing background that knew what it took to get good quarterback and wide receiver play. Kentucky’s current staff is great at finding the other positions — offensive line, tight end, and running backs.

A year later, that recipe likely does not change. Kentucky needs someone with expertise in the passing game who can both recruit and develop young quarterbacks and wide receivers. The Sean McVay blueprint got most of the attention, but any way to create a balanced passing attack to complement a strong rushing attack is really what Stoops is looking for. The head coach wants a style that can succeed at Kentucky, and that appears to be a run-heavy approach that is balanced enough to hurt defenses with an efficient and explosive passing game.

However, it would be easier for everyone involved if the new play-caller came in with a heavy knowledge of an outside zone based scheme. That appears to be the direction that Wildcats are moving in.

Potential targets

Bush Hamdan (Missouri QB coach)

• 36 years old
• Play-calling experience at Washington
• Multiple years served under both Chris Petersen and Eliah Drinkwitz

A former Boise State quarterback, Bush Hamdan was a finalist for the Kentucky offensive coordinator position last year joining Coen and Joe Moorhead. Hamdan has both quarterback and wide receiver coaching experience with one year spent at Florida under Will Muschamp. The assistant coach was promoted by Drinkwitz after last season at Missouri to coach quarterbacks full-time with the head coach finally letting go of those duties. Hamdan has shown some legitimate recruiting chops at both Washington and Missouri.

Bush Hamdan offensive ranks at Washigton (2018-19) pic.twitter.com/c4ruhyeEJi

— Adam Luckett (@AdamLuckettKSR) December 14, 2020

The college assistant also spent the 2017 season with the Atlanta Falcons working with offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian who runs his own version of the Shanahan wide zone offense that is used by McVay with the Los Angeles Rams. At Washington, Hamdan produced just one top-50 yards per play offense in two seasons, but the Huskies were a balanced attack that did do some under-center concepts.

Hamdan checks the quarterback and wide receiver box to go along with proven recruiting success. Don’t be surprised if the SEC East assistant becomes a candidate again.

Brian Brohm (Purdue Co-Offensive Coordinator, QB coach)

• 35 years old
• 4-year NFL playing career
• Has been Jeff Brohm’s No. 2 for six seasons

Another candidate from the last search, Brian Brohm does not have any play-calling experience but the former All-American at Louisville (Ky.) Trinity has been his older brother’s top man at both WKU and Purdue. Brohm has helped put together some strong passing offenses at Purdue as the Boilermakers have averaged over 300 yards passing per game in four consecutive seasons. On the recruiting trail, Brohm has helped bring in multiple blue-chip quarterbacks to Purdue.

With strong ties to the state after being a star quarterback at Louisville, Brohm would help Vince Marrow lock up the in-state recruiting. However, Purdue has been very pass-heavy, and the Brohms haven’t been able to create an efficient rushing attack in the Big Ten. That simply won’t work for Mark Stoops at Kentucky.

Spencer Whipple (Arizona Cardinals assistant WR coach)

• 32 years old
• NFL experience
• Mark Whipple pipeline

Could Kentucky lean into the UMass coaching tree again? Mark Whipple is now the offensive coordinator at Nebraska after helping develop Kenny Pickett at Pittsburgh. Before that, the 64-year-old coach had two stints as the head coach at UMass (1998-03, 2014-18). In Amherst, both Liam Coen and Kentucky wide receivers coach Scott Woodward played for Whipple.

Spencer, Mark’s son, joined the UMass staff in 2014 and spent five seasons coaching quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends. During four of those years, Whipple was on staff with Woodward before moving onto the NFL.

The youngest Whipple has been with the Arizona Cardinals for three seasons and has experience coaching quarterbacks and wide receivers. Last season, with Kingsbury and quarterbacks coach Cameron Turner out with COVID-19, Whipple called plays in a 37-14 road victory over the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 17.

The young coaching prospect has a pedigree and appears to check a few key boxes.

Kevin Patullo (Philadelphia Eagles passing game coordinator)

• Work experience with Mark Stoops
• SEC assistant in 2017
• Has coached both quarterbacks and wide receivers in NFL with a specialty in the passing game

After finishing his playing career at South Florida, Kevin Patullo got his coaching start at Arizona where he was a graduate assistant for three seasons under Mike Stoops. During that time, Mark Stoops was the defensive coordinator in Tucson. There is a connection.

Patullo has been an NFL assistant for 13 seasons and was most recently the passing game coordinator for both the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles. Each team made the postseason. Patullo also spent one year in the SEC serving in an analyst role at Texas A&M under Kevin Sumlin in 2017.

There is no play-calling experience, but Patullo has served a lot of time in the NFL and has an expertise in the passing game to go along with time spent in multiple schemes coaching both quarterbacks and wideouts. Add in SEC familiarity to work experience with Stoops and this move could make a lot of sense for both parties.

Brian Johnson (Philadelphia Eagles QB coach)

• 35 years old
• Coordinator at Utah, Houston, and Florida
• Six years spent in SEC

Brian Johnson is a name everyone will know very soon. The former Utah quarterback was hired to be a position coach immediately after his playing career ended. After one season, Kyle Whittingham promoted him to offensive coordinator. Johnson would then reunite with former college coach Dan Mullen.

Johnson was Mullen’s quarterback coach for six seasons at both Mississippi State and Florida with a stop as Houston’s offensive coordinator under Major Applewhite sprinkled in. The young coach made the jump to the NFL in 2021 and coached Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia.

Johnson is a fast riser who has been internally promoted at two places in his short career. The Texas native will be a play-caller sooner rather than later. In Gainesville, Johnson was one of the better recruiters that Mullen had on staff.

Major Applewhite (South Alabama offensive coordinator)

• 43 years old
• Nick Saban’s stamp of approval
• Extensive power conference experience

After Nick Saban took over at Alabama, the hall of famer named 28-year-old Major Applewhite his offensive coordinator. The former Texas signal-caller only lasted one season in Tuscaloosa but has lived a long coaching life.

Applewhite spent six more seasons at Texas and eventually became the head coach at Houston, but that lasted just two seasons. From there, Applewhite became an analyst at Alabama where he worked alongside Mike Stoops.

Applewhite got a chance to run an offense again in 2021, but the Jaguars have had some struggles. However, this is a name with extensive big-time college experience who has some ties to the coaching staff at Kentucky.

T.C. McCartney (Cleveland Browns offensive assistant)

• 32 years old
• Kyle Shanahan tree
• Grandson of Colorado head coach Bill McCartney and son of Colorado quarterback Sal Aunese

After walking on at LSU, T.C. McCartney was a graduate assistant under Les Miles in 2011 and moved to the NFL in 2014. The rising coach spent three seasons working directly under Kyle Shanahan and was the quarterbacks coach for the Denver Broncos in 2019 before spending the last two seasons with the Cleveland Browns.

There is very little college experience, but McCartney has ties to the Shanahan tree which produced Sean McVay.

Scott Woodward (Kentucky WR coach)

• 36 years old
• Liam Coen’s No. 2
• Mark Whipple tree

After Liam Coen was brought on, the first move the new Kentucky offensive coordinator made was to bring someone with him that he could trust. That happened to be his former UMass teammate and backup quarterback.

Scott Woodward was brought over from Pittsburgh where he worked under Mark Whipple to be a quality control coach at Kentucky. However, Woodward soon became an on-field assistant and worked with the wide receivers. Kentucky’s huge season on offense had plenty to do with his coaching as Coen’s guy in the box. Woodward has also shown some big recruiting chops early with success in Middle Tennessee.

The current Kentucky assistant did coach quarterbacks at UMass in 2017 and was big-time coaching wideouts for Kentucky in 2021. However, he was a quality control coach less than a year ago, and this might be too big of a step forward at this time.

Troy Walters (Bengals WR coach)

• 45 years old
• NFL experience with extension of Sean McVay coaching tree
• Former Power Five coordinator

Troy Walters is a former wideout at Stanford who spent multiple years in the NFL. After retirement, Walters immediately got into coaching and has been at Texas A&M, NC State, and Colorado. Walters became Scott Frost’s offensive coordinator at UCF and followed him to Nebraska. However, he did not call plays at either spot. After a four-year stint, the parties separated and Walters joined Zac Taylor’s coaching staff with the Cincinnati Bengals. After one year as the assistant wide receiver job, Walters got promoted in 2021 and helped guide the AFC North franchise to the Super Bowl.

Adding Walters would allow Scott Woodward to shift over to quarterbacks and have a bigger role in the offensive operation. The NFL assistant has had plenty of recruiting success and knows the operations of a big-time program even with no play-calling experience. Plus the extended connection to the Rams could be attractive as Zac Taylor was an assistant coach under McVay before heading to Cincinnati.

Dan Mullen

• 49 years old
• Strong rushing attacks out of spread with proven QB development
• SEC experience

Just stay with me on this. The former Mississippi State and Florida head coach is currently unemployed. After doing some work with the SEC Network during the College Football Playoff, it looks like television is his future until another Power Five head coaching opportunity comes along.

However, what if Mullen wants to jump back into the SEC now? Kentucky might want to take a swing.

Gone would be the under-center rushing attack, but Mullen consistently had one of the SEC’s top rushing offenses at both Mississippi State and Florida. Throughout his career, the former Urban Meyer assistant flashed strong quarterback development with the ability to have success with multiple skill sets.

Adding Mullen is a total long shot, but it would seem to make some sense with a quarterback like Will Levis who would seem to thrive in that spread downhill rushing scheme. Mullen could quickly try to exact some revenge on Florida in week two.

The former Florida head coach seemed pretty happy for Mark Stoops in last year’s meeting.

Rough look for Mullen smiling running across the field to meet Stoops after the game pic.twitter.com/gvgfJdabJ6

— Jaguar Junky (@JaguarJunky) October 3, 2021