Florida Atlantic has hired Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley as its next head coach. The school officially announced the hire on Monday.
Kittley replaces Tom Herman, who was fired with two games remaining this season after compiling a 6-16 record in two years. Herman finished 2-8 this year before being dismissed. Associate head coach and special teams coordinator Chad Lunsford coached the Owls’ final two games of the season.
At 33 years old, Kittley, becomes the youngest head coach in FBS. This season, Texas Tech’s offense was the 10th-best in the nation, averaging 459.8 yards per game. The Red Raiders ranked No. 9 among FBS teams with an average of 298.1 passing yards per game.
Kittley began his coaching career at Texas Tech as a student assistant, then graduate assistant under then-head coach Kliff Kingsbury with Patrick Mahomes as quarterback. His first job as offensive coordinator and QB coach was at Houston Baptist before he took the same role at Western Kentucky.
During his lone season with the Hilltoppers in 2021, Kittley’s offense ranked second in the nation and QB Bailey Zappe set an FBS record with 5,967 yards passing and 62 TD passes.
From there, Kittley returned to Texas Tech to be offensive coordinator for the past three seasons under head coach Joey McGuire.
“Following an extensive search with a tremendous amount of interest from candidates across the country, Zach emerged as the ideal choice to be our next head coach,” FAU athletic director Brian White said in a statement.
“He is a man of high integrity and character, with an incredible reputation in the profession for player development,” White added. “Zach is one of the most innovative offensive minds in the game, and I am confident in his ability to build a championship program with an exciting brand of football that can be a source of pride for our fans, our alumni, and the FAU community.”
Florida Atlantic has posted four consecutive losing seasons. During Lane Kiffin’s three seasons as head coach, the Owls twice finished with 11-3 records, which surely set the bar for expectations from the football program.