The one thing Mark Stoops has to get done to stabilize the Kentucky football program

If you believe timing is one of life’s key determining factors, the apparent fate of Bush Hamdan as Kentucky offensive coordinator seems poised to prove you right.

In 2020, when UK football’s one-dimensional, run-heavy offensive approach convinced Mark Stoops he needed to move on from his good friend Eddie Gran as Kentucky’s primary play caller, the Wildcats averaged 21.7 points and 311.8 yards a game vs. power conference foes.

Two seasons later, when Stoops decided Rich Scangarello’s tenure as Cats offensive coordinator would be one and done, UK averaged 18.4 points and 310.8 yards per contest against major conference opposition.

By way of contrast, during Kentucky’s just-concluded 4-8 slog through 2024, Hamdan’s first UK offense produced the most meager averages yet vs. power conference teams — 14.1 points and 269.9 yards a game.

Yet, in a program that has changed OCs every year since 2020, the need for continuity seems set to trump the paltry offensive numbers Kentucky produced in 2024 to secure Hamdan another shot to get the UK attack going in 2025.

After the Wildcats’ dispiriting 41-14 loss Saturday to intrastate rival Louisville, Stoops talked like he intends to bring Hamdan back for next season.

“We haven’t had any continuity on the offensive side in a long time — and that’s hurt us, it’s caught up to us,” Stoops said.

If you wonder how Kentucky wound up in the 12th season of the Stoops coaching era with such a punchless offense, the coaching instability over the past five years on UK’s offensive staff is a good place to start.

Counting as separate coaching stints the non-consecutive terms of Liam Coen (2021 and 2023) and Eric Wolford (2021 and 2024 and ongoing) as Kentucky offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, respectively, UK has had five OCs and five o-line coaches since 2020.

So, even with this past season’s struggles, it is a rational position for Stoops to believe he needs to halt the constant churn on the UK offensive coaching staff in the two most important positions to have any chance at “re-turning” the Kentucky football program back in a positive direction in 2025.

“I think (offensive coaching staff) consistency, I definitely need,” Stoops said after UK had given up the Governor’s Cup trophy to U of L for the first time since 2017. “We’ve had great consistency on the defensive side of the ball and it kind of shows.

“Offensively, I think it is relatively important. If you watch other teams and you see the consistency year to year, you can see them getting better. I think I’m excited to keep that continuity and get it better.”

For Stoops, Hamdan, Wolford and Co., that sets up the one clear and essential task in what is shaping up as a tumultuous and consequential Wildcats offseason.

The Kentucky offensive line HAS to be repaired.

There’s a strong case to be made that UK’s struggles in pass protection — revealed in dramatic manner by South Carolina’s relentless edge rushers in the season’s second game — were the single greatest factor in Kentucky’s competitive collapse in 2024.

Out of 133 FBS teams, only 17 gave up more sacks of their quarterbacks than the 35 Kentucky surrendered in 2024.

From that second game loss to South Carolina in which UK surrendered five sacks and four quarterback hurries while losing 31-6, Wildcats QBs rarely looked comfortable in the pocket against power conference competition over the remainder of the season.

There was another pivotal area in which Kentucky’s blocking problems proved damaging. In 2021, which proved to be the final year of the vintage “Big Blue Wall,” the Kentucky offense created a robust 40 red zone chances in 10 games against power conference competition.

With an offensive line led by future NFL players Darian Kinnard and Luke Fortner, UK scored on 35 of those 40 drives that penetrated inside the opponents’ 20-yard lines.

This season, in nine games against major conference opponents, Kentucky mounted only 18 total drives inside the red zone — and scored on a paltry 12 of those.

Last Monday, at his final weekly news conference of 2024, Stoops said Kentucky feels good about the offensive guards already on the Wildcats roster. UK hopes to return starting guards Jager Burton and Jalen Farmer as well as backups Dylan Ray and Aba Selm, the latter a true freshman, in 2024.

“We need some depth at center,” Stoops said. “It is no mystery that we need some help at tackle. ... We need to go get some help at tackle for sure.”

As important as it will be for UK to decide if freshman Cutter Boley is ready to be the Wildcats starting quarterback in 2025 and to figure out what happened to undermine the Cats’ run defense in the second half of this past year, the offseason to-do list for Stoops should should start with three tasks:

1. Fix the offensive line.

2. Fix the offensive line.

3. Fix the offensive line.

Getting that done in 2025 would be a big step toward solving some of the most acute problems that sabotaged Kentucky football in 2024.

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