Morgan Scalley didn’t need to look too far for his offensive coordinator.
Utah State offensive Kevin McGiven has been hired as Utah’s new offensive coordinator and will take over for Jason Beck, who left the program for Michigan this week.
This season, the Aggies’ offense scored 30.9 points per game (No. 36 in the country) and averaged 409.5 yards per game (No. 39 in the country).
In Mountain West Conference play, Utah State’s offense ranked No. 2 in yards per game and No. 4 in points per game despite subpar offensive line play.
McGiven, 48, has spent 25 years as a college coach, including 17 seasons as an offensive coordinator. He has had two stints calling Utah State’s offense, most recently spending this year on Bronco Mendenhall’s staff.
“Kevin is one of the brightest offensive minds in college football,” Scalley said in a press release “His ability to innovate and adapt to different personnel is extremely impressive and he brings a scheme and mentality that are perfect for the playmakers we have here at Utah. Ute Nation is going to love this guy!”
In a statement, McGiven called Utah a place that he has “always aspired to be.”
“What an incredible honor for me to be hired as the offensive coordinator at the University of Utah,” McGiven said. “This is a special place with special people that I’ve always aspired to be.
“I sincerely thank Mark Harlan and Coach Scalley for giving me this opportunity and putting their faith and trust in me to lead our offense. My wife and I are excited to get down there and I look forward to continuing and building upon the success and tradition of Utah football.”
Former Utah backup quarterback Bryson Barnes thrived in Logan this season under McGiven’s leadership and was named to the All-Mountain West second team after throwing for 2,803 yards and 18 touchdowns with five interceptions on 59.3% accuracy.
McGiven also leaned into Barnes’ running ability this season — something Utah didn’t do as quick much when Barnes was quarterback. Barnes rushed for 740 yards and 10 scores in 2025, accounting for 3,543 yards of total offense.
Like Beck’s offense, McGiven puts a lot of trust into his quarterbacks and their ability to make the right read. At Utah last season, Devon Dampier did just that, throwing for 2,490 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushing for 835 yards and 10 scores.
The expectation is that McGiven’s offense will feature a lot of similar concepts as Beck’s offense at Utah, but that — like Beck — McGiven will adapt his offense to the strength of his personnel.
In 2025, Utah’s offensive strength was running the ball, and Beck tailored the offense around that. With all of Utah’s starting offensive line graduating or going to the NFL draft, it remains to be seen exactly what the strength of the 2026 offense will be, but McGiven has proven that he can adapt to his personnel.
Utah State also had a productive running back — Miles Davis — that rushed for 731 yards and eight touchdowns despite an offensive line that was less than dependable. If Wayshawn Parker stays at Utah, that will provide McGiven with a dependable, and talented, running back.
McGiven’s biggest priority after being hired will be meeting with Dampier and selling him on his offense. If it is indeed similar to Beck’s, it will be a smoother transition for Dampier, who played under Beck for two years, first at New Mexico and then at Utah.
Despite being just 48 years old, McGiven has spent 17 seasons as an offensive coordinator, getting his start at the position at Southern Utah.
After a number of years calling offenses for FCS schools (Weber State and Montana State), he got his FBS break as an offensive coordinator at Utah State and coached the Aggie offense from 2013-2014.
Utah State’s offense ranked in the 50s nationally in scoring offense in that time period as starting quarterback Chuckie Keaton missed the majority of games with injury.
McGiven was given his first Power Five offensive coordinator shot in 2016 at Oregon State, as a co-offensive coordinator with T. J. Woods, then took over the position solely in 2017.
During the short-lived Gary Andersen era and in the midst of a rebuild, the Beavers won just five total games over two years, never had much talent on the offensive side of the ball and finished toward the bottom third of offensive production in both years.
McGiven found more success at San Jose State, where he was the offensive coordinator from 2018-2023.
McGiven improved the Spartans’ offense from 126th in points per game to No. 57 (30.1 points per game) by his second year in 2019. Quarterback Josh Love threw for 3,923 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2019, winning Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year.
In 2020, SJSU ranked No. 62 in total offense and went 7-1, winning the Mountain West championship and appearing in the final AP Poll for the first time since 2012.
Led by quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, the Spartans ranked No. 36 in the country in 2023, scoring 31.8 points per game as Cordeiro threw for 2,773 yards and 20 touchdowns.
The Spartans also had a great ground game, with running back Kairee Robinson rushing for 1,194 yards and 18 touchdowns and Quali Conley 842 yards and nine scores.
McGiven was the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at SJSU in 2024, where he coached receiver Nick Nash (1,382 yards, 16 touchdowns) to a unanimous first-team All-American selection — the first in school history.
That offensive turnaround at SJSU, a place that’s hard to win at, made him a target for Mendenhall’s inaugural staff at Utah State.
Rumored names for Utah’s offensive coordinator search included former Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith, Arizona State offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo, and BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick, but in the end, McGiven was the selection.
Utah has hired an offensive coordinator (McGiven is expected to also coach the quarterbacks), an offensive line coach (Jordan Gross) and retained running backs coach Mark Atuaia.
As such, the final main pieces to form Utah’s offensive coaching staff are a wide receivers coach and a tight ends coach.