From what I’ve read, he got demoted from San Jose State’s OC to their QB coach in 2020. That doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence, tbh.
I guess I was thinking that we could make a bigger splash than that, given the mass coaching exodus.
3 Likes
The Aggies’ offense put up strong numbers in McGiven’s year at the helm, including mentoring quarterback Bryson Barnes into one of six FBS players in 2025 with at least 2,500 passing yards and 700 rushing yards. Utah quarterback Devon Dampier accomplished the same feat in 2024 at New Mexico and came up just short this season with the Utes (2,490 passing, 835 rushing).
“Kevin is one of the brightest offensive minds in college football,” Scalley said. "His ability to innovate and adapt to different personnel is extremely impressive and he brings a scheme and mentality that are perfect for the playmakers we have here at Utah.
I’m going back to Washington Irving’s call to wait a couple of years.
Also, I don’t think it’s particularly helpful (for me) to watch the news unfold. Even if we land some big recruits, we won’t really know until next October what we’re looking at.
Things are just a lot better when you’re pleasantly surprised.
Here’s a mild funny. At the bowl game they had cameras panning the crowd (of course). One that got the ire of Nebraska fans was a guy holding a sign on his phone:
“Iowa corn is better”
5 Likes
This is exactly the same as the Jason Beck hire which, of course, nobody was excited about. Architect of the MWC’s top offense who led an innovative dual threat attack etc. etc.
Seems like he’s a sharp offensive mind. Also it sounds like most of our skill players should be sticking around. Could end up being a really good hire.
6 Likes
This feels like a Troy Taylor kind of hire. Hope I’m wrong.
1 Like
Only because Ken N. Got hired as HC and he wanted his own OC. I don’t know much aboit this guy, but OC/QB coach at Utah St, Ore St., SJSU means he is ok, albeit moving up to P4 (I guess was P5 with OSU).
We’ll see. If players stay, that will be a good sign.
3 Likes
Gross is the new OL coach. Maybe Obot stays.
7 Likes
Hell yeah - Jordan Gross as OL coach
4 Likes
He got 3000 and 700 out of a pig farmer with a bad O-line…..
11 Likes
Nothing quite like having an NFL All Pro coaching up the O Line.
3 Likes
Our online fan base is broken.
Everyone who is mad we lost Beck is mad we hired a guy from non P4
They’re probably the same ones who were mad we hired Beck.
The internet sucks.
6 Likes
We have a fan base that hasn’t seen a HC change in so long they have forgotten what they are really like. Now they are whining because there is so much change.
Welcome to the real world of the “business” of CFB.
9 Likes
Here’s the big difference I see between Beck and McGiven.
Beck has had three stops as OC in three years. He was very mediocre at Syracuse then great at NM and Utah with Dampier. That’s a very small sample size with most of it being very positive (how much of that success is Beck’s and how much is Dampier’s remains to be seen).
McGiven has been around for 20+ years. Utah will now be his 8th OC gig since 2005. And at the majority of those places, he’s been mostly mediocre. From what I can tell, last year with the Aggies was his best year of the 20 and frankly feels like somewhat of an outlier. That’s a much bigger sample size with a much longer track record of “meh”.
That’s not to say McGiven can’t and be great for Utah next year, but I do think that fans are very justified in being concerned about his proven results over two decades. In Beck, we hired a guy with a high potential ceiling. With McGiven, we hired a guy that we can pretty much guess what we’re gonna get. Hopefully we’re wrong and he surprises everyone.
5 Likes
Yet all the other candidates they were “excited” about were just as meh.
The difference? Most were “meh” with a bigger name school on the resume.
On all levels of football I don’t really see these “automatic” great hires. So much is dependent on situation.
2 Likes
So, being the OC at Utah is still the same as being the drummer for Spinal Tap. 
9 Likes
Remember, Beck came into a setting with one of the best o lines in the country and brought a QB with him that was already productive in his offense. He was set up for success from day 1. We are going to need to give the new guy some slack, his situation will be much different.
We will see how Beck is able to do in the B1G where he will face more good defenses than he did in this conference.
6 Likes
Dampier and especially the O-line made Beck remarkable at Utah.
If McGiven has fully absorbed the flexibility approach and we get good O-line play, we’ll be fine.
If we can keep Dampier, better than fine. He & Ficklin are genuine leaders that pull up the players around them.
6 Likes
3 Likes
Chad Bumphis announced as WRs coach. This is a terrific hire. He is really well liked, and an excellent coach and recruiter. It was seen as a big loss when he left for the SEC in 2022.
7 Likes
New DL coach is supposedly Inoke Breckterfield.
Most notably he was Aaron Donald’s college coach
4 Likes
I shouldn’t be on the internet.
Now I know why our reputation as a fan base is so bad.
So many loud mouth guys who have zero clue but act like they’re Bill Walsh.
5 Likes