It was announced on Thursday morning that head coach Mark Stoops and UK would decide not to retain Shannon Dawson as offensive coordinator of the team. This was his first season at UK after holding the same position at West Virginia for four years.

The firing will mean UK will have a new offensive coordinator for the second straight season after Neal Brown left for the head coaching job at Troy. Dawson came to UK with hopes of running an air-raid system that would be similar to Brown’s.

The Cats finished the season ranked seventh in passing yards per game in the SEC and ended the season with ten passing touchdowns to eleven interceptions.

The firing of Dawson is not the only loss for the UK offense, as after the loss to Louisville, the starting quarterback for most of the season, Patrick Towles, also announced he would be leaving UK.

The Cats will start next season with a new offensive coordinator and a new starting quarterback as they try to make a post-season bowl for the first time since 2010.