Eddie Gran became a first-time offensive coordinator in the Southeastern Conference during the 2016 season at Kentucky.
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops hired Gran and implemented a more balanced offense. Bringing in Gran was a different direction than Stoops’ first three seasons (2013-15) as head coach at Kentucky.
Current West Virginia head coach Neal Brown served as Stoops’ offensive coordinator from 2013-14, while Houston offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson held the position at Kentucky during the 2015 campaign.
Both specialize in the Air Raid offense, an area Stoops’ brothers, Bob Stoops and Mike Stoops, went in when they were head coaches at Oklahoma and Arizona.
Stoops made a change in 2016 to bring a more balanced attack to his Kentucky offense by hiring Gran. It was a decision to protect his defense and one that allows Kentucky not to rely on its offense solely.
By bringing in Gran, Kentucky has been able to have a physical offense that can run the ball, while having a timely passing attack and allowing a quarterback like Terry Wilson to provide creative ways in using his legs for production.
Kentucky’s program has won 33 games and appeared in four bowl games with Gran as offensive coordinator. Stoops’ Kentucky program won 12 contests and were not bowl eligible in his first three seasons running an Air Raid offense prior to hiring Gran.
Prior to his time at Kentucky, Gran spent 15 years in the SEC and understands the importance of having a physical running game to win games.
He served as running backs coach and oversaw special teams at Ole Miss (1995-98), Auburn (1999-2008) and Tennessee (2009). Gran also coached alongside Stoops at Florida State (2010-12) when both were offensive and defensive coordinators for Jimbo Fisher.
Jimmy Perry served as Director of High School Relations and later Director of Football Operations at Auburn when Gran was the Tigers’ running backs and special teams coach.
Perry discussed how Gran has packaged a lot of offensive philosophies together and is using them in the SEC at Kentucky.
“Eddie is a great coach and got great experience at Auburn,” Perry said on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” “He was running backs coach for us under Bobby Petrino, Al Borges and then he leaves and goes to Tennessee with Lane Kiffin.
“Then he went to Florida State with Jimbo Fisher, so he has been exposed to some great offensive coordinators and offensive minds, and he has absorbed that.”
Phillip Lolley, now a defensive coordinator in the CFL, coached alongside Gran at Auburn, serving in various roles on defense within Tommy Tuberville’s program (strength and conditioning, linebackers, defensive backs, director of NFL relations and cornerbacks).
Lolley discussed Gran’s offensive approach at Kentucky.
“I think he is going to be a head coach pretty soon, that’s my opinion,” Lolley said on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” “I just think somebody is going to give him a shot. He demands respect in the room. He is old school about that. He is going to tell you like it is. He’s not going to sugarcoat anything. I think that’s why you see athlete play so hard for him and are hard-nosed. I always respected that.
“All of us DB coaches also coached on special teams, so every time I walked in the room, I watched him very closely and he coached old school. He demands their attention and demands that they get the job done. I know if he did that in special teams meetings, he is doing the same thing in his offensive meetings.”
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