Western Kentucky offensive coordinator Zach Kittley watches the offense Aug. 6 during practice at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

Zach Kittley, who led one of the nation’s top offenses this season at Western Kentucky, has been named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas Tech, head coach Joey McGuire announced Monday evening.

“Zach Kittley represents one of the top young offensive minds in college football, and we are thrilled to add him to our staff as offensive coordinator,” McGuire said in a news release. “In a short amount of time, Zach has built a reputation as an innovative play-caller and effective developer of quarterbacks. We’re excited to welcome him and his family back home to Texas Tech.”

Kittley, 30, is a Lubbock, Texas, native and returns to his alma mater after a record-setting season at WKU where the Hilltoppers rank second in the FBS for scoring offense, averaging 43.1 points per contest following Friday’s appearance in the Conference USA championship game. WKU is also second nationally in total offense per game (528.0) and leads the country in passing (436.5 yards per game) behind the arm of quarterback Bailey Zappe.

Zappe has developed into the nation’s top passer in his lone season at the FBS level as the graduate senior leads the country in passing yards (5,570), passing yards per game (428.5), passing touchdowns (56), points responsible for (358) and total offense per game (430.2).

Heading into WKU’s Dec. 18 game against Appalachian State in the Roofclaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, Zappe needs 263 passing yards to match Texas Tech’s B.J. Symons’ NCAA FBS single-season record that was set in 2003.

Kittley was hired by WKU after three seasons in a similar role at Houston Baptist where he built one of the nation’s top offenses at the FCS level. During its shortened 2020 season, Houston Baptist continually frustrated FBS opponents as Zappe, who later transferred to WKU after Kittley’s hire, completed 65.6% of his passes for 1,833 yards and 15 touchdowns with one interception over four games.

Zappe led the nation with 35 passing touchdowns in 2019 and ranked second in passing yards per game for a Huskies offense that was third nationally in passing offense with 334.3 yards per game through the air. Houston Baptist also ranked second in the Southland Conference and 12th nationally after posting 426.6 yards of total offense that season.

This will be Kittley’s second stint on the Texas Tech coaching staff after previously serving in various roles on Kliff Kingsbury’s staff from 2013-17, rising from a student assistant to graduate assistant and assistant quarterbacks coach his final three seasons. Kittley worked alongside Kingsbury in the development of Patrick Mahomes as a graduate assistant, tutoring the future NFL MVP into becoming the nation’s leading passer in 2016 and an eventual top-10 selection by the Kansas City Chiefs.

“My family and I are excited to return to Texas Tech and a place I love so much as the offensive coordinator,” Kittley said in a news release. “This is a dream come true for me personally, and I can’t thank Coach McGuire enough for the opportunity. I’m looking forward to meeting our players soon and immediately getting to work in building this offense into one of the nation’s elite units.”

Houston Baptist was Kittley’s first full-time coaching position after his time on the Texas Tech staff. The Red Raiders annually ranked among the nation’s top offenses during his three seasons as a graduate assistant as Texas Tech led the country in total offense and passing offense and ranked fifth in scoring during the 2016 campaign. The Red Raiders, who averaged more than 30 points per game in each of those three seasons, were also second nationally in total offense and scoring offense in 2015.{&end}