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He had to know the question was coming.
Bush Hamdan is Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator and knows the Cats will start a season with a new offensive coordinator for the fifth straight year under coach Mark Stoops.
Hamdan left Boise State to fill the opening created when Liam Coen went to the Tampa Bay Bucs as offensive coordinator one year after insisting he wanted to plan roots in Lexington.
He didn’t make any promises about planting roots or how long he will be in Lexington but he said the right things at his first UK press conference.
“I think there certainly had to be that commitment, I felt like for him (Mark Stoops) and I. It’s there. As you know, in this day and age in college football more than ever, you got to take one day at a time. That’s the biggest thing. Today’s a big day. Tomorrow’s a big day,” Hamdan said.
“I also think I understand this is the SEC. These jobs don’t come open very often and I’m well aware of that. I have a lot of gratitude and having the opportunity to have this position, know the task at hand and I’m excited to be here.”
Hamdan was offensive coordinator at his alma mater in 2023 after spending three years at Missouri as quarterbacks and receivers coach. He also worked at Washington and had one-year stays at Colorado, Maryland, Sacramento State, Florida, Arkansas State, Davidson and the Atlanta Falcons.
However, Hamdan’s moves seem to have always been upward moves, including this one that likely will double his salary compared to what he made at Boise.
“It’s hard because I know maybe you look at the resume and certainly there’s been a lot of moves,” Hamdan said. “It’s just the nature of, in my opinion, this profession. If you’re going to be kind of into doing this thing, you’ve got to do it.”
Hamdan left a stacked offensive team at Boise State to join UK and help rebuild the Kentucky offense that lost Devin Leary and Ray Davis. However, he said the stability Stoops and UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart provide at Kentucky was hard to ignore as was his familiarity of just how good SEC football has been and will continue to be.
“Anybody in coaching wants to be the best, and I think this conference certainly forces you to do that,” Hamdan said. “I remember those days, I do, of being at Florida, being at Missouri and coming to Kroger Field, knowing what this place is about, knowing what the fan base is about. The mixture of those three things just made this a job I couldn’t pass up on.”
Hamdan got his first in-person look at his new players on Wednesday and liked what he saw. He knows what he’s leaving behind but likes the talent he has at Kentucky.
“Certainly I know the history of Kentucky. What the fronts look like, the physicality. I just saw those guys yesterday upfront, their size, really feel they can be an extremely competitive group in the SEC. But I’m really optimistic about some of these skill players,” Hamdan said Thursday.
“I’m not gonna get into specific guys, but I’m watching tight ends that can run, watching wide receivers in my opinion that are elite type NFL type players and certainly excited about the quarterback room.”
