Kentucky Wildcats Must Hire Right Offensive Coordinator

The Kentucky Wildcats concluded their 2014 season on Saturday, losing to their arch rivals, the Louisville Cardinals. Despite the fact that the season ended with that game, the Wildcats lost again on Sunday when it was announced that UK offensive coordinator Neal Brown would be leaving the Bluegrass to become the head coach at Troy.

Fans were very excited when new head coach Mark Stoops hired Brown as the offensive coordinator. Brown played at Kentucky under Hal Mumme in a system known as the “Air Raid”. Those days, when Tim Couch regularly threw touchdowns to Craig Yeast, are the modern glory days for this program and many hoped Brown could bring that offensive efficiency back to Kentucky.

Brown did run the Air Raid system, but he really didn’t have the weapons to make it effective. Kentucky was lacking in offensive talent upon Brown’s arrival, and while he did improve that talent during his two years in Lexington, he still didn’t have exactly what he needed.

Now, Stoops must make a big decision. The Wildcats’ coaches have recruited players to play in the spread offense, but will the new offensive coordinator run a similar system? Or does Kentucky change its approach in recruiting and hire a coordinator who might run more of a pro set?

The decision that Stoops makes on the new coordinator will be huge. There are already recruits backing off of verbal commitments to UK, waiting to see which staff members will remain and waiting to find out who the new coordinator will be.

Kentucky made progress on the field this season, but a bad hire here could set the program back once again. Stoops has a big decision ahead of him.

Tim Letcher is a contributing writer for www.RantSports.com and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.