Cincinnati Bearcats quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw will be following offensive coordinator Eddie Gran to Kentucky, who made the move on Monday.
That puts UC is a fairly precarious position offensively next season.
My initial reaction to Gran jumping for UK was that it wasn’t necessarily Earth shattering for the Bearcats. They could have slid Hinshaw into the offensive coordinator role, since he was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, and Cincinnati wouldn’t miss a beat on that side of the ball. Players wouldn’t have to had to learn new schemes or play calls since, for the most part, Hinshaw probably would have kept them the same.
However, now that both Gran and Hinshaw are gone, it raises a litany of problems and questions Tuberville must address quickly. It’s not like he’s going to step in and start calling plays so he needs to figure out who’s going to do that and fast. Will he promote from within, giving offensive line coach Darren Hiller or wide receivers coach Blake Rolan the gig? Neither of them have coordinator experience so that seems unlikely and unwise.
So chances are Tuberville is going to have to look outside the walls of the Lindner Center to find Gran and Hinshaw’s replacements.
I’m curious just what route he goes. Does Tuberville find someone with a similar offensive mindset as his predecessor or does he go a completely different direction and install a more run-centric offense, one that they intended to install three years ago? That remains to be seen but you can rest assured that the further he goes from a system that’s similar to the one Cincinnati has now, the more likely they’ll be to have a rocky season offensively in 2016.
Of course, this past season the Bearcats were in year three of Gran’s system and couldn’t stop turning the ball over, so who knows.
Plus Tuberville will have to consider finding a replacement to match Gran’s prowess on the recruiting trail. He was UC’s primary connection to Florida and accounted for commitments from the likes of Kahlil Lewis and Carter Jacobs, both of whom saw significant playing time as freshmen. Considering Tuberville’s emphasis on recruiting and program-building, this factor might be the one causing him most headaches at the moment.
But the questions don’t stop with the immediate coaching staff. What happens to Gunner Kiel given this news? He’s losing not only his offensive coordinator but his quarterbacks coach, the man he’s been working with closely for three seasons. Now, with the NFL Draft very much on the front of his mind, he’ll have to learn a potentially brand new system with only a year of eligibility to execute it and prove his worth to NFL scouts.
So, does he declare for the 2016 NFL Draft? Does he follow Gran and Hinshaw to Kentucky, maintaining consistency in the offensive system he operates while building his resume against the best defenses in college football and make a run at the 2017 NFL Draft? Kiel’s already receive his bachelor’s degree so he could transfer out of Cincinnati and play immediately at his new school. Or does he stick with UC for another season?
All of those scenarios I could easily see playing out over the next few weeks. Kiel loses his entire receiving corps to graduation and will probably continue to battle Hayden Moore for the starting job in 2016. If he wants a, let’s call it, “easier” path to a starting role, making the move to UK with Gran and Hinshaw as his coaches might be the way to go.
There are just so many moving parts right now I wouldn’t blame you if it made your head spin. Far more than we expected this offseason, that’s for sure. Gran leaving was a definite possibility but Hinshaw and potentially starting quarterback Gunner Kiel? Now, that would create all kinds of headaches for any head coach. Hopefully Tuberville saw this coming over the season and was readily putting together a list of replacements and, even more so, they’ll be quality hires to elevate UC football to the 10-win program we know and love.