Kendal Briles shuts down Mississippi State rumors
After rumors swirled around for a few days, Arkansas is retaining offensive coordinator Kendal Briles for another season in Fayetteville.
Mississippi State reporters speculated earlier in the week that Briles had emerged as a leading candidate for the offensive coordinator position under new head coach Zach Arnett. Briles shut those rumors down Thursday night by tweeting that he is looking forward to the 2023 season with Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson.
Head coach Sam Pittman praised Briles for his loyalty to the Hogs after he was pursued by Miami (FL) last offseason. Briles' earned a pay raise to $1.2 million in March 2022, and he is set to earn a $50,000 bump each of the next two seasons. That number is likely to go up soon, as it can be assumed Briles will receive a raise.
Pittman took to Twitter on Thursday to give his reaction to Briles' tweet.
Briles, who also serves as Arkansas' quarterbacks coach, has been in Fayetteville since Pittman took over in Dec. 2019. His offense ranked 35th nationally in points per game (32.5) and 16th in total yards (471.4) this season. The Hogs averaged 21.4 points per game and gained 340.1 yards per game in 2019, the year prior to Briles' arrival.
Arkansas' 6,128 total yards of offense this season was the second most in a single season in program history (the 2010 team had 6,273). The team's 471.4 total yards of offense per game ranked second in school history and the 6.37 yards per play is tied with the 2021 team for fifth best in the team's record book.
Briles' offense set a school record with 311 first downs this year, and the team's 3,051 passing yards and the 3,077 rushing yards both rank eighth in program history.
Last season, Arkansas scored 30.9 points per game and averaged 441.7 total yards per game – both of which were the most since 2015. The Hogs led all Power 5 teams and ranked second in the FBS with 227.8 rushing yards per game.
Briles has played a big role in developing Jefferson, who recorded a 68.0 completion percentage this season, topping his 67.3% last season. Jefferson now holds the No. 2 and No. 3 best season completion percentage marks in program history. His passing yards (2,648) and passing touchdown (24) marks this year also rank top-10 for a season in program history.
Prior to his time at Arkansas, Briles served many different offensive coaching roles, including being offensive coordinator at Baylor (2015-16), Florida Atlantic (2017), Houston (2018) and Florida State (2019).
Arkansas has had to replace just one offensive coach since the end of the season. Tight ends coach Dowell Loggains departed for the offensive coordinator position at South Carolina on Dec. 13, and the Hogs replaced him with former Stanford TE coach Morgan Turner.
The Razorbacks also had to replace defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who took the head coach job at UNLV, with former UCF DC Travis Williams. Linebackers coach Michael Scherer was officially hired as the new DC at UNLV under Odom on Thursday, which opened a spot for Florida State defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson to become Arkansas' new co-defensive coordinator.
Click here for a look into the contract details for each Arkansas assistant football coach.