Kendal Briles hired as Florida State offensive coordinator

12/23 update: Florida State has made it official, naming Kendal Briles as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

The last couple of Decembers have seen plenty of coaching searches for Florida State. Last year, nearly all of the staff was overhauled following Jimbo Fisher’s departure to Texas A&M. This holiday season, we at Tomahawk Nation aren’t nearly as sleep-starved as we were in 2017, with “just” a vacant offensive coordinator spot to fill, after previous OC Walt Bell bolted to take the head coaching gig at UMass.

And now, it appears we can put that search to bed as well, as multiple reports say Kendal Briles is expected to be hired as the next offensive coordinator at Florida State, heading to Tallahassee from the University of Houston, where he was the Cougars’ associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach in 2018.

Following Houston’s historic loss to Army Saturday night, Briles reportedly resigned with intentions of taking the Florida State job. The news was first reported by SB Nation’s Steven Godfrey, and also tweeted by Bruce Feldman.

Briles, the son of former Baylor head coach Art Briles, got his coaching start under his father in Waco, where he began as the Bears’ inside receivers and offensive recruiting coordinator from 2008-2011. He then became BU’s passing game coordinator, wide receivers coach, and recruiting coordinator from 2012-2014 before moving up to OC and QBs coach from 2015-2016. In 2017, Briles worked with Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic, where he was the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach.

Briles’ offenses have consistently been amongst the best at the FBS level. In 2015, Baylor ranked second in S&P+ rankings, with FAU (No. 6) and Houston (No. 11) also cracking the top 15 under his guidance.

Before Houston quarterback D’Eriq King went down with a meniscus injury in mid-November. the junior lead the FBS with 50 touchdowns combined, as well as then-first in the nation passing numbers of 2,982 yards and 36 touchdowns.

It’s currently not known if Houston’s offensive line coach Randy Clements will be joining Briles in Tallahassee or if there’ll be any other changes to the staff, though reports seem to indicate that it’s a possibility:

Be sure to check back with Tomahawk Nation regularly, as we’ll have more information on this important new hire in the days to come.