Gran, Hinshaw join Kentucky football staff

Jon Hale | Louisville Courier Journal

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Less than two weeks after Shannon Dawson was fired, Kentucky football has its new offensive coordinator.

On Tuesday, coach Mark Stoops finalized a deal with Cincinnati offensive coordinator Eddie Gran to accept a job as the assistant head coach of offense at Kentucky. Gran, who emerged as the leading candidate for the job shortly after Dawson was let go, will also coach the running backs at Kentucky. Cincinnati quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw has also joined the UK staff as quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator. Gran will call plays at UK. Chad Scott, who coached running backs in each of the last three seasons, will now coach the UK wide receivers, a source confirmed to The Courier-Journal..

"Having worked with Eddie at Florida State, he is an outstanding coach with great experience, including a lot of years in the SEC," Stoops said in a news release announcing the hire. "He is a great leader with tremendous passion for the game."

At 50 years old, Gran will become the oldest coach on UK’s staff. Neal Brown was 32 when hired as UK’s offensive coordinator, and Dawson was 37 when he took the job.

At Cincinnati, Gran led an offense that ranks sixth nationally in passing yards per game (359.9) and seventh in total yards per game (537.8) through Monday’s bowl games. The Bearcats rank 36th nationally in points per game (33.8) and 58th in rushing yards per game (177.9). Cincinnati ranks third nationally in third-down conversion percentage (51.02).

The Bearcats set 18 school records in 2015, including single-game records for passing yards (620) and total offense (720). Gran’s three seasons at Cincinnati were the program’s three best seasons for total offense, including the school-record 6,990 yards this season.

Unlike Stoops’ two previous offensive coordinator hires – Dawson and current Troy head coach Neal Brown – the UK head coach already has experience working with Gran. The two coaches served as assistants on Jimbo Fisher’s Florida State staff from 2010-12. Gran served as the Seminoles’ associate head coach, running backs coach and special teams coordinator while Stoops was the defensive coordinator. Gran left Florida State in 2013 to join Tommy Tuberville’s staff at Cincinnati. He previously coached with Tuberville at Miami (1990-91), Ole Miss (1995-98) and Auburn (1999-2008).

“I’m very excited to be at Kentucky,” Gran said in the release. “I had the opportunity at Florida State to work three years with Coach Stoops, and No. 1, it’s his passion for football and what he stands for – family. I really got know Chantel and the kids as my kids were able to be with them for three years. All of that matters in this profession and being around great people is important.

"I’m excited about the challenges. It’s a great conference. It’s the best conference in America and if you’re a college football coach this is the level you want to be coaching. I spent 15 years in the SEC and being in those stadiums and the defenses you will be facing, it’s what you want if you’re a competitor and if you want to play against the best.”

Gran is no stranger to the rigors of the Southeastern Conference, having spent 15 seasons as an assistant in the league from 1995 to 2009 at Ole Miss, Auburn and Tennessee.

Stoops hopes Gran is able to bring his success at Cincinnati to Lexington after hitting the reset button on the offense after just one season with Dawson at the helm.

After Brown left UK for Troy following the 2014 season, Stoops hired Dawson in an effort to keep continuity within the “Air Raid” coaching tree and ease the transition players would face after Brown’s departure. During Dawson’s lone season at Kentucky, UK posted drops in in passing yards per game (21.9), total yards per game (12.3) and points per game (4.5). UK quarterbacks completed 54.9 percent of their passes for 2,512 yards, 10 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

The 16 interceptions were most by a Kentucky team since 2000, and the 10 touchdowns were UK’s lowest total since 2005. The performance marked the first time the Wildcats had thrown more interceptions than touchdowns since 2000 and the worst touchdown-to-interception ratio (.625) since 1994.

Gran’s Cincinnati offense was not exactly conservative, but his scheme would represent a departure for the “Air Raid” family. Cincinnati threw on 51.6 percent of its plays in 2015 but still featured three running backs with at least 700 rushing yards. Stoops has repeatedly called for a more successful power-run game in his tenure at UK.

The second opening on UK's staff was created by the dismissal of former wide receivers coach Tommy Mainord. Gran has coached running backs at each of his last six jobs, so Hinshaw will take over the quarterback coaching duties that Dawson also held.

Hinshaw, who played quarterback at Central Florida, also coached quarterbacks at Tennessee from 2010-11. He made previous coaching stops as an assistant at Memphis, Georgia Southern, Middle Tennessee State and Central Florida.

"Darin has a great offensive mind and his experience includes time in the Southeastern Conference," Stoops said in the release. "I've been impressed with how well they've produced at Cincinnati and how prolific they have been in throwing the football.

Hinshaw will be faced with a challenging depth issue after the transfers of quarterbacks Patrick Towles and Reese Phillips. Redshirt freshman Drew Barker, who started the final two games of the 2015 season, is the only scholarship quarterback currently on the roster. Three-star quarterback recruit Gunnar Hoak is scheduled to enroll for the spring semester, and former Male High School quarterback Davis Mattingly returns as a walk-on after redshirting during the 2015 season.

The Wildcats do return starters at nine of the other 10 positions on offense with senior left tackle Jordan Swindle the only full-time starter departing. Kentucky is slated to return every 2015 scholarship running back and every player who caught a pass except Towles, who was credited with a reception on a pass tipped back to him.

"This is a great opportunity to be back in the SEC and I'm really looking forward to it," Hinshaw said in the release. "I've always looked at Kentucky as a program that has the potential to be very, very good and we can put up the points and yards that will equal wins and help get us to bowl games. That's why I'm taking this opportunity. I'm very excited to be back in the SEC and be a part of Kentucky and the Big Blue Nation."

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com . Follow him on Twitter @JonHale_CJ .