College Football

Shannon Dawson says he's out as Kentucky offensive coordinator

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:46 p.m. ET

Bruce Feldman

Shannon Dawson is out as Kentucky's offensive coordinator and will no longer be on the UK staff, he told FOX Sports Thursday morning. Philosophically, Dawson and head coach Mark Stoops were not on the same page with how they wanted the offense run.

Dawson spent one season at UK, after helping run the offense at West Virginia. The Wildcats were 5-7 this season and 2-6 in SEC play.

The Cats scoring average dropped from 29 ppg to 25 ppg although they improved in almost every other offensive category this fall.

UK ranked No. 10 in the SEC in yards per play at 5.47 -- up slightly from last year's 5.43 mark. The Wildcats did run the ball considerably better this fall, averaging 4.7 yards per carry, up from 2014 when they averaged 4.1. Kentucky was also better on third-down conversions, going from 33.88 percent up to 37.25 this season -- and their TD conversions in the red zone rose from 51 percent to 56 percent.