Wednesday Update >> The school has now formally announced the hire
According to Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated, Notre Dame offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Mike Sanford will be the new head coach at WKU. Sources had told us Sanford was involved & interviewing and that a hire could be in the works; but we haven't fully confirmed the hire at this time.
Much of Sanford's experience comes with top-notch programs on the West coast. He played quarterback in the early 2000's at Boise State, participating in three bowl games, before embarking on his coaching career which took him from UNLV where he worked as a graduate assistant on both offense and defense, Stanford as an offensive assistant, then onto Yale before a one season stop at WKU where he cut his teeth as a play caller as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
From there Sanford went back to Stanford where he coached the running backs, served as recruiting coordinator, and then switched to quarterbacks and wide receivers before heading to Boise State in 2014 as the play caller and quarterbacks coach. In 2015 he joined Brian Kelly's staff in South Bend with the offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach title.
This will make Sanford's first head coaching job, and if who he has worked under is any indication (Brian Kelly, David Shaw, and his father Mike Sanford just to name a few), he'll be prepared to build on the success that Jeff Brohm had at WKU.
Sanford's hiring means that 16 of the 17 FBS head coaching jobs that have come open have been filled, with only Temple left to name their next leader.
Sanford is the son of Mike Sanford, who was a longtime assistant at the college level before landing head coaching jobs at UNLV and Indiana State.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.