TCU has officially hired Kendal Briles to become its next offensive coordinator.
Sources informed the Star-Telegram on Wednesday that a deal was being finalized. Briles will takes over for Garrett Riley, who left TCU to accept a similar position at Clemson after the Horned Frogs’ loss in the national championship to Georgia on Jan. 9.
It had been rumored Briles would be the man for the job since the weekend, but the initial leak was met with pushback by members of the TCU fanbase because Briles was on the staff with his father Art at Baylor. Art Briles was fired in 2016 in the wake of a sexual assault scandal at the university.
Kendal Briles wasn’t implicated in any wrongdoing and has held jobs at Florida State, Arkansas, Houston and others since the scandal. Now he’ll be at TCU.
Here are four things to know about TCU’s next offensive coordinator:
What kind of offense does Briles run?
His father mastered the veer and shoot offense and Kendal has continued to mainly rely on that scheme at his various stops. For comparison, Tennessee runs a similar style of offense. Aside from points and a lot of yards, there are a few key traits in the offense.
One is wide receivers lining up with ultra wide splits. The receivers will be as far from the box (offensive line) as possible with some receivers being extremely close to the sideline. Veer and shoot slot receivers often line up further from the box than a normal spread team’s outside receivers for comparison.
Another staple of the offense is tempo. Despite all the success it had offensively, the Horned Frogs relied more on tempo as a change of pace more than a staple of their offense. The offense features a lot of vertical shots off RPOs or play actions.
Balanced approach
While big passing plays are a staple of a successful offense, Briles has shown that he’s not afraid to be a run-oriented team. At Arkansas, Briles constructed one of the nation’s best rushing attacks with K.J. Jefferson and Raheim Sanders.
Arkansas was seventh nationally in rushing offense in 2022 (236.5 yards per game). The Hogs’ 3,075 rushing yards were their most since the 2003 season. Briles also improved Arkansas’ passing game and its balance on offense. The Hogs were one of three FBS teams in 2022 to average more than 230 rushing yards and 230 passing yards per game.
Briles coordinated the offense at FAU in 2017 helping the Owls to the sixth-best rushing attack in the FBS with 285.3 yards per game. Devin Singletary became FAU’s first Associated Press All-American and was named C-USA MVP after leading the nation with 32 rushing touchdowns.
Balance was key to TCU’s breakout season as Kendre Miller and Emari Demercado combined for over 2,000 rushing yards. TCU still likes its running back group next year with Miller and Demercado off to the NFL draft. The run game was still be crucial for the Horned Frogs next season.
QB friendly system
Briles, who also coaches quarterbacks, has a good track record of producing quarterbacks. Jefferson was one of the top quarterbacks in college football and completed 68% of his passes in 2022 to tie Felipe Franks for the best completion percentage in school history. Franks accomplished that in Briles’ first season.
Jefferson threw for over 5,300 yards, 45 touchdowns and had just nine interceptions in two seasons as a starter under Briles. Jefferson also rushed for over 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns in two seasons. At Houston, D’Eriq King needed only 10 games to break the American Athletic Conference’s single-season touchdown responsibility record with 50. King also led the AAC in total offense, passing touchdowns, passing efficiency and completion percentage.
Briles was also a Broyles Award finalist in 2015 as Baylor led the country in points per game. Riley won the award this past season for TCU.
Family ties
Dykes and the Briles family go way back. Dykes and Art Briles were on Mike Leach’s staff at Texas Tech from 2000-02. Briles coached running backs while Dykes coached wide receivers at the time. Kendal Briles was a teenager at the time, about to start his own collegiate career at Texas, then at Houston.
Knowing the family for decades likely played a role in Dykes’ decision to bring Briles on. And like many from the Leach tree, they all have their own variations of Leach’s ideology on offense.
