Illustrating the Enormity of the Kentucky Offensive Assistant Churn

The Kentucky offense needs continuity from its leaders. That is why despite fielding one of the worst offenses of the Mark Stoops era, the head coach is ready to run it back with offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.

“That’s hard to even answer because I don’t want it to be a headline. Of course, he’s coming back,” Stoops said after the loss to Texas. “There’s a lot of moving pieces where we need to get better.”

A month earlier, Stoops alluded to the poor hand Hamdan was dealt when he arrived in Lexington.

“I have a lot of confidence in Bush,” Stoops said. “He’s been handed — it’s tough. We’re not going to point any fingers. Put it on me. We’ll go back to work.”

So how bad was the hand? We’ve talked a lot about the turnover for the Kentucky Wildcats offensive coordinator, but that’s not the only place where there’s been leadership churn. Today we learned that WR coach Daikiel Shorts is expected to leave for Nebraska, adding to the churn. Aside from Vince Marrow’s tight ends, each position has experienced significant changes in its position coach in recent years. Let’s track all of the moving parts since 2019.

Offensive Coordinators

2019 — Eddie Gran
2020 — Eddie Gran
2021 — Liam Coen
2022 — Rich Scangarello
2023 — Liam Coen
2024 — Bush Hamdan

Even though Gran and Coen’s names appear on multiple occasions, in 2019 Gran had to completely scrap the playbook to run Bowden Ball. It’s similar to how the offense had to relearn Coen’s playbook in 2023. In summary, there has been a different offensive install for five consecutive fall camps.

Wide Receivers

2019 — Michael Smith
2020 — Jovon Bouknight
2021 — Bouknight/Scott Woodward
2022 — Scott Woodward
2023 — Scott Woodward
2024 — Daikiel Shorts

Michael Smith’s resignation was a bit of a surprise. It was not too surprising that his successor was demoted to a quality control role after an offseason DUI arrest. Scott Woodward, a former quarterback, was originally going to be an extra set of eyes and ears for his college roommate, Liam Coen, when he was thrust into a more prominent position. The results weren’t great.

Shorts’ departure should not be too surprising. He came here to coach with Coen and things clearly didn’t work out in Lexington. Now he can stay in the Power Conference ranks with his former college head coach at Nebraska.

Nevertheless, Kentucky is looking for its fifth wide receivers coach in seven seasons.

Running Back

2019 — Eddie Gran
2020 — Eddie Gran
2021 — Jemal Singleton/John Settle
2022 — John Settle
2023 — Jay Boulware
2024 — Jay Boulware

Three coaches in six years isn’t that bad. Even though he never coached a game, I felt the need to add Jemal Singleton. Kentucky hired the NFL assistant, he had an introductory Zoom press conference, then took a job with the Eagles a week or two later.

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Offensive Line

2019 — John Schlarman
2020 — John Schlarman/Evan McKissack
2021 — Eric Wolford
2022 — Zach Yenser
2023 — Zach Yenser
2024 — Eric Wolford

Eli Cox just completed his Super Senior season by playing for four different coaches. That’s on the heels of an 8-year run with Schlarman leading the Big Blue Wall.

If you’re wondering, “Who’s Evan McKissack?” He is the former graduate assistant who handled day-to-day duties when Schlarman was limited by his illness. Many of the players lobbied for him to be promoted to the full-time position, but it was vetoed due to his lack of experience. Since then McKissack has been Jon Sumrall’s offensive line coach. This year his offensive line at Tulane is one of ten semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award.

If you’re among the many who believe that Eric Wolford should not be employed by the University of Kentucky after another disastrous season, I got some bad news for you. Stoops hired Wolford to get players. Firing him before he has the opportunity to get players in the portal would be illogical.

This is why the Kentucky Offense hasn’t worked

Kentucky didn’t score more than 20 points against a Power Conference foe in 2024. That didn’t happen overnight. The Wildcats have fielded just one Top 25 offense in the Stoops era and that unit had a future NFL head coach calling plays for a future NFL starting QB, a wide receiver who broke Air Raid records, and a top-five rusher in school history. Kentucky has not had a 3,000-yard passer since Mike Hartline.

Offensive coach turnover does not explain away all of this unit’s problems, but nothing is holding back this group more than a lack of continuity. As Stoops said, “Put it on me. We’ll go back to work.”

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