It was a shock to almost everyone Wednesday when Football Scoop broke the news that Virginia Tech offensive coordinator and QBs coach Tyler Bowen was leaving to become the offensive line coach at Ohio State. Bowen’s departure leaves the Hokies with a massive vacancy just weeks before spring practice gets going.
It also sets the stage for what will likely be the most important hire of Brent Pry’s tenure to date given that Pry is a defensive coach by trade. One thing to watch is whether Pry follows the James Franklin mold for hiring coaches on the side of the ball opposite of your background. Franklin has usually spent more on defensive coordinators given his offensive background, bringing in coaches to basically be the head coach of the defense. It would make sense for Pry to follow that model and find someone who he feels can basically be the head coach of the offense to an extent.
So with that in mind, here’s a look at some potential candidates to watch who could make sense for the Hokies to pursue as their next offensive coordinator
Akron HC Joe Moorhead
As soon as the Bowen news broke, Joe Moorhead was the first name that came to mind. The veteran head coach and Power 4 offensive coordinator has proven to be one of the sharper offensive minds in college football with many wondering how much longer he might be at the vastly underfunded Akron football program.
Moorhead worked with Brent Pry at Penn State during the 2016-17 seasons, helping the Nittany Lions put together some of their best offenses of the James Franklin era and winning a Big 10 title in the process. This included Penn State averaging over 80 yards more per game in his first season at the helm of the Penn State offense.
His Oregon offenses in 2020-21 were also effectively ranking in the top 40 in yards per play in each of his two seasons including in the top 15 in 2020.
While his Akron tenure hasn’t gone so well given the 8-28 record, he did more games this past season (4) than Akron’s previous coach had won in three seasons. Prior to that, Moorhead had successful stints as the head coach at Fordham with a 38-13 record from 2012-15 with a high-powered offense to lead the way, plus a 14-12 record at Mississippi State with two bowl game appearances in 2018-19. Moorhead got a quick hook during his time in Starkville but his offenses ranked in the top 40 in yards per play both seasons, a big reason for his winning record.
Beyond his success as an offensive coordinator and head coach, there’s also the fact that Morehead’s offense isn’t that different from what the Hokies are doing, especially with Bowen coming from the Morehead offensive tree. He also would fit the mold of someone who could definitely be the ‘head coach of the offense’ similar to what James Franklin has done hiring Manny Diaz, Tom Allen, and Jim Knowles at DC since Pry’s departure, all three of whom also had head coach experience.
He’s also only making $620k at Akron, over $200k less than what Tyler Bowen made this past year, and could get a significant raise well into the seven figures if he were to become the OC at VT.
I would be very surprised if Joe Moorhead didn’t get a call and if he has any interest, he should absolutely be the focus of this search.
