Eddie Gran A Target For Kentucky Offensive Coordinator

Kentucky fans who have tired a bit of the Air Raid were riding the Eddie Gran bandwagon hard as soon as Neal Brown took the job at Troy. Kentucky could certainly offer a hefty salary to entice Eddie to make the move down I-75, but that is a lateral move at best for Gran at this point. As much as UK fans want to think that they are the center of the universe, this isn't basketball, they have better resource because they are in the SEC.

But their roster is a mess right now and he would be leaving a great situation with the Bearcats. Gunner Kiel will be back. Mike Boone is back. Shaq Washington, Johnny Holton, Mekale McKay, Chris Moore, Alex Chisum, Casey Gladney, Max Morrison and Nate Cole will all be back at receiver. Deyshawn Bond, Ryan Leahy, Parker Ehringer and Justin Murray will all be back up front. This year's Bearcat's offense is one of the 30 best groups in the country, and every relevant piece, save Eric Lefeld, will be back in 2015. Meanwhile, in Lexington you have Patrick Towels who is not terrible and a bunch of not terrible pieces that don't amount to a fraction of the firepower the Bearcats will be running back in 2015. On the field, there is no equivalent between these situations.

I wouldn't be so dismissive of this if the end game for Eddie Gran was to be the offensive coordinator in Lexington, but we know that its't the case. Eddie Gran wants to be a head coach at this level, and he would prefer to do that at the power 5 level, but he would be willing to start lower, but only for a head coaching job.

So, to make this decision clearer you need to ask yourself a question and try to answer it as Eddie Gran, safe in the knowledge that all he really wants is to be the head coach. What moves him further along towards that goal, staying in Cincinnati and overseeing an offense that is primed to explode into one of the 5 or 10 best groups in the country. Or moving down the road to Lexington to be a part of yet another offensive reset with personnel that doesn't really match what you want to do? The answer, as always, is "Dear God, not Lexington."

For what it's worth the name that keeps popping up for this job is James Coley, currently the offensive coordinator of the Miami Hurricanes. Al Golden does not seem long for this world, and the Wildcats would be a nice golden parachute for Coley. Keep in mind that we are just getting started with the Eddie Gran to... rumors. He is going to be a very popular man over the next couple of weeks.