No, not remotely. It isn't one game that makes me not want him. They lost 7 games this year, including to FIU who we beat by over 40. I'm sorry he just has absolutely no track record of success as a head coach.
I understand what you're saying about not overpaying and buying hype. That's why I'm kind of confused as to why you even brought him up. He's the epitome of a hype hire, what he's done well is coach high scoring offenses as a coordinator. He's done nothing as a head coach. But people see the high scoring offenses for teams he has coordinated and for some reason start salivating over his prospects as a head coach. What has he done as a HC to make you think he is a solid coach?
If you dig a little deeper, you'll notice several positives about Kittlley
1. FAU player and team stats improved dramatically
QB Veltkamp and WR Messer's stats are in the top of the AAC stats and offensively much improved over last years team
2. Zach deploys an aggressive passing attack that involves multiple receiving threats
3. His offensive philosophy at previous stops in his coaching career have resulted in impressive numbers. At Houston Christian in his first season, the team doubled its offensive production, increasing total yards by 46% and touchdowns by 56% with QB Bailey Zappe leading the nation in passing touchdowns in 2019
At Western Kentucky: Kittley's offense experienced a 115% increase in total yards and a 192% increase in touchdowns from the previous year, with the team leading the FBS in passing yards per game (433.7) in 2021.
In Zack's final season as offensive coordinator at Texas Tech, his offense ranked 10th nationally in total yards per game, 9th in passing yards per game, and 8th in points per game.
Texas Tech's offense averaged 459.8 total yards per game in 2024 and scored 38.6 points per game.
That's not a correlation, that's a trend and exactly what you're looking for in a new coach hiring search. Any questions?
