Mark Stoops did not wait around to find a replacement for Vince Marrow. A little more than 24 hours after his move to Louisville became official, Kentucky announced that Derek Shay will be the Wildcats’ next tight ends coach.

“We are fortunate to have someone already on our staff who has coached tight ends at a high level and led those rooms successfully,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said in a statement.

“He is familiar with Coach (Bush) Hamdan’s system and I’m very confident in his abilities. His versatility, football IQ, and on-field toughness will be a valuable addition to our offense.”

Shay is familiar with Hamdan’s system because it’s not the first time the two have coached together. They first interacted when Shay was a member of the Missouri support staff, working alongside Hamdan. Shay is one of the only people Hamdan brought with him to Kentucky. He sat next to the offensive coordinator in the booth throughout the 2024 season.

In between stints with Hamdan, Shay served as the tight ends coach at Marshall in 2023. He also coached in the LSU tight end room as a GA. That’s where his high-major coaching career began, a year after the Tigers won the National Championship.

“Derek is a very knowledgeable coach with an outstanding work ethic. Our players and coaches at LSU loved him—not just as a coach, but as a man,” said former LSU head coach Ed Oregeron.

“He’s an outstanding recruiter with tireless energy and a passion for developing young talent. Additionally, he’s a great family man who brings character and integrity to everything he does. The University of Kentucky is getting a great one. He’s a great hire.”

Shay has a lot of talent to work with this fall. The Wildcats took two transfers, Henry Boyer (Illinois) and Elijah Brown (UCF), who can be road-graders in the run game. Willie Rodriguez showed a ton of promise during his freshman season and true freshman Mikkel Skinner was the highest-ranked player in the Wildcats’ 2025 recruiting class. Rodriguez and Josh Kattus have worked with Shay for the last 16 months, and the latter is fired up to see Shay in a more prominent role.

“We get to see every day how Coach Shay operates and the intensity he brings, and we are excited to have him leading our room. He knows our system inside and out, and he’s incredibly passionate about the game and coaching. Adding him to our room is a seamless transition.”

You can hear more from other players and coaches who worked with Shay as he takes the next step in his coaching career.

Derek Shay Coach Record

A soldier was killed and another wounded in a helicopter crash during a training exercise at a Kentucky Army base Wednesday, according to reports.

The crash happened around 7 p.m. at Fort Campbell — home to several of the Army’s air-based groups — as troops were conducting a training operation at the base on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, according to Stars and Stripes.

Exactly what happened remains unclear, but one soldier was killed in the crash while the other was pulled to safety.

Emergency responders were on the scene immediately and took the survivor to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital.

They are in stable condition, the Army said.

The names of the soldiers involved are being withheld until next of kin have been fully notified.

“I am devastated by the loss of a Fort Campbell soldier last night who tragically passed during an aviation training exercise,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote on X after news broke.

“Lifting up this servicemember’s family in prayer today and will continue to monitor this situation,” she added.

It was just the latest fatal helicopter accident to happen near the Army base.

In 2023, nine soldiers were killed when a pair of Black Hawk helicopters collided during a nighttime training mission about 30 miles from Fort Campbell.

An Army Black Hawk was also involved in a deadly January collision with an American Airlines passenger jet outside of Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC.

All three servicemembers onboard the Black Hawk were killed, as were all 64 passengers and crew on the plane.

Brandon Garrison could have easily left Kentucky after his first season in Lexington.

After a promising campaign in 2024-25, the rising junior had a decision to make. With several veterans from Mark Pope‘s first Kentucky roster running out of eligibility, the head coach had to once again go out and reload his team. He did so by landing a handful of talented players who occupy some of the same positional space as Garrison. Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State), Mo Dioubate (Alabama), Andrija Jelavić (Croatia), and Malachi Moreno (Great Crossing High School) help make up the Wildcats’ frontcourt for next season, not to mention Reece Potter (Miami [OH]), who joined the roster late.

Garrison could have opted to hop into the transfer portal and find a new home without nearly as much competition. There was real speculation in the offseason that he might do just that. But he ultimately embraced the challenge, announcing his return to Kentucky the same day that Jelavić committed.

“I talked it over with my agent, talked it over with Coach Pope,” Garrison said Tuesday. “Just felt like it was still home, my head was still playing for Coach Pope, another year at Kentucky.”

Continuity played a role in Garrison’s decision to come back to Lexington for another season. He started his college career at Oklahoma State as a true freshman before transferring to be part of Pope’s first Kentucky team last offseason. Pope has stressed that his players take developmental leaps in their second year under him, and Garrison mentioned playing for the same staff again as a sticking point for wanting to run it back. His position coach, Mikhail McLean, kept in constant contact with him once the season ended.

“I got a good feel for (Pope’s coaching style),” Garrison said. “So I can teach the incoming guys how things work around here.”

Garrison saw improvements in his game from being a freshman at Oklahoma State to a sophomore at Kentucky. His minutes and scoring numbers dropped, but his decision-making and outside shooting improved. He was vitally important in wins over Gonzaga, Louisville, Oklahoma, and in the NCAA Tournament against Troy.

It was hardly a perfect season for Garrison, but the talent is clearly there. Consistency and leadership are the next steps in piecing it all together as he looks to make a statement in year three as a college player.