Mark Stoops talks about Rich Scangarello

With Liam Coen off to Los Angeles to work for the Rams, the Kentucky Wildcats have a new offensive coordinator in Rich Scangarello.

Scangarello comes to Lexington after coaching with Kyle Shanahan for the last several seasons as the quarterbacks coach for San Francisco 49ers.

In what was a fairly quick process for the Kentucky staff, but Mark Stoops seems to have once again pulled off another solid hire. Obviously, the book is still out on what the offense will look like next season compared to the turnaround under Coen.

But by all accounts coming out of the program, this is a home-run hire.

Stoops joined KSR on Wednesday morning, and he had some great things to say when asked what the program is getting in Scangarello.

“You’re getting one heck of a football coach. It’s one of those interviews that I go through that’s almost like, ‘Are you kidding me? This guy has forgotten more football than most people will ever know.’ These last five years he’s been either a quarterback coach or a play-caller, a significant role in an NFL offense. He goes back to, I want to say ’15 with (Kyle) Shanahan and Atlanta, so he’s familiar with this offense. He’s run it in college, versions of it himself as a play-caller. And then having five years in the NFL and quite a few years under Shanahan, who I have ultimate respect for. Both Shanahan and McVay, they’re two of the best in the world at what they do.”

Stoops continued with;

“Getting Rich out of that (coaching) tree, in particular (with) quarterback play, it was really important for me. To hire somebody and keep the continuity, continue to build on all the good things we did this past year, but also have the ability to take Will to the next level. And with that, our offense will follow, our team will follow. We went out and hired arguably the best person we possibly can hire for this position.”

Scangarello has his critics after a short stint as the OC with the Denver Broncos, but there is a reason that one of the best football minds in the NFL wanted him coaching his quarterbacks. It appears the biggest question mark surrounding this hire will be in recruiting. If he can piece together a few commitments over the next cycle, and continue the upward trend of the offense, the sky is the limit for this program currently.

You can read the full interview with Stoops here.