Notre Dame offensive coordinator candidate: Kirby Moore
Rather unexpectedly, at least by those that watched Notre Dame’s offense up close in 2023, Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Gerad Parker has taken the head coach job at Troy.
Him doing so leaves a vacancy for Notre Dame at offensive coordinator yet again as the Irish will spend part of the off-season searching for a new play caller. This is the third time in four off-seasons that Notre Dame has had to conduct such a search.
Here at Fighting Irish Wire we will be researching any and all of the names that get rumored or linked to the opening to arm you with the best information on each candidate.
A hot name in coaching circles is Kirby Moore, the current offensive coordinator at Missouri. What makes Moore such an intriguing candidate?
Here’s what you need to know about the man currently calling plays for Elijah Drinkwitz and the Missouri Tigers:
Strong One Season at Mizzou
Kirby Moore has been at Missouri just this season but the impact he’s made on the Tigers is clear. Mizzou saw all of their major offensive numbers rise significantly from 2022 to 2023, including:
Points per game: 24.8 to 34.1
Pass yards per game: 214.1 to 273.5
Rush yards per game: 155.7 to 169.4
Total yards per game: 369.8 to 442.9
Mizzou was also home to Cody Schrader (above) who finished the regular season a nose hair short of 1,500 rushing yards (1,499). Schrader finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Six Seasons at Fresno State
I don’t know what it is about Fresno State but whenever I write these (which has became an annual tradition) it seems like one of the top candidates spent extensive time at Fresno State. Last year it was Andy Ludwig from Utah and now it’s Moore.
Moore spent six seasons at Fresno State and was the offensive coordinator in 2022. He helped oversee a team that had one of the great turnarounds in college football history. Despite starting the season just 1-4, Fresno State rallied to win nine-straight to close the year, including a win in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. They became the first team all-time to finish a season with 10 wins after starting 1-4.
How did Fresno State win in 2022? Theyere second in the NCAA FBS in completion percentage (.710) and led the Mountain West in scoring and total offense, averaging 30.6 points per game and 402.6 yards per game.
Great Quarterback Play
2022 saw Jake Haener have a massive year for Fresno State. Despite missing the first four games of the year, Haener finished with an efficiency rating of 158.65. He also completed 72 percent of his passes and averaged 290 passing yards per game.
2023 saw Missouri quarterback Brady Cook take a large stride as well. Cook’s completion percentage was nearly the same compared to 2022 (improved from 64.8% to 65.8%) but his yards per pass attempt soared from just 7.2 in 2022 to 9.1 in 2023.
Coaching Ropes at Washington
Moore’s first stop on his coaching tour came as a graduate assistant at Washington in 2015 and 2016. Moore learned under a fantastic head coach at Washington, Chris Peterson. 2016 saw Washington earn a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Moore had already established a relationship with Peterson as he played receiver in college for Peterson’s previous team.
Playing Career at Boise State
Kirby Moore played his college football at Boise State from 2009 to 2013 while the Broncos were reeking havoc on the college football elites. Moore helped Peterson and the Broncos to a 14-0 season in 2009 and a 31-8 record the following three seasons.
Moore’s final stats as a collegiate player went as follows:
45 games
115 receptions
1,137 receiving yards
6 TD
Coaching Family
If you were wondering about the Moore last name and Boise State, yes, Kirby comes from the same family.
Kirby’s brother Kellen was a standout quarterback at Boise State before getting into coaching himself. He helped the Broncos to that unbeaten season in 2009 before coaching in the NFL where he has had stops as the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys and now Los Angeles Chargers.
His father, Tom Moore, compiled an impressive 234-38 over 23 years as a high school coach, winning 21 league titles and playing in eight state championship games at Prosser High School in Washington.
The Verdict
Success has followed Kirby Moore wherever he has gone. He has a history of coaching wide receivers and quarterbacks and has improved offenses instantly at each of his stops.
That’s what Notre Dame is certainly looking to do here. Sure, the Irish averaged 39-points per game this regular season but how many of those came against the likes of Navy, Tennessee State, Pitt, and Wake Forest? It was a different story against Ohio State, Louisville and Clemson, obviously.
In the high-powered SEC, Missouri failed to score 30 points just twice this entire season: once in the early season against Middle Tennessee State and the other time at unbeaten Georgia.
When you put together the entire package you have not just a talented play caller but also someone with big-time connections to the west coast. That can’t be underplayed in importance when you’re looking at a program like Notre Dame that has to recruit more nationally than many of the other powerhouses.
I won’t go as far as saying Kirby Moore is the one-and-only candidate, but it’s going to be real tough for me to find one that I walk away more impressed with both for the short term and long term.
