Utah Offensive Coordinator Troy Taylor accepts head coaching job at Sacramento State

Utah is back in the market for an offensive coordinator, as Troy Taylor has decided to take a head coaching job with Sacramento State after two seasons at Utah. Coach Whittingham hired Taylor from Eastern Washington after being a coordinator up there for a season.

While questioned at times, especially early in the season (rightfully so), Taylor coordinated the offense to an offensive explosion through October, scoring 40 points per game, before Tyler Huntley went down with an injury in the ASU game. Losing Zack Moss didn’t help either going into the Oregon game, and a blizzard against CU slowed things down as well.

On the season, the Utes were almost smack in the middle of the conference in a lot of offensive categories, except passing yards per game, where they were 10th, and rush offense where they were 1st. Strangely enough, Washington was very similar to the Utes this year in that regard.

I liked Taylor, overall, as the OC and I was looking forward to a 3rd season under him, as it seems the offense has improved each season under him. He was more aggressive in the passing game, which was nice to see, but also did work against Utah at times considering the strength of the rushing attack with Zack Moss. When he (and Jim Harding) decided to lock in on the running game after the WSU loss, the offense seamed to find its groove.

Now the question is who is the OC next season for the Utes? Coach Whittingham said they’ll take their time to name the next guy, but I think Harding should be the favorite to continue the offensive continuity. With that said, if there’s a hot name out there that can spark the team even more, I have no objections to going outside of the program. This makes two openings that Utah now has to fill on the staff, with Justin Ena going to USU with Gary Andersen.

What names would you like to see considered for the OC job?