Former Iowa standout and 12-year NFL veteran Mike Goff and Western Kentucky have parted ways.
The Hilltoppers' offensive line coach the past two seasons under Tyson Helton, Goff had a four-year run at the University of Southern California as an offensive assistant prior to his stint at Western Kentucky.
It was at that stop in Los Angeles that Goff's path crossed with Helton. The duo both worked on the Trojans' offense during the 2016-17 seasons.
After Helton was lured to Knoxville to be Jeremy Pruitt's offensive coordinator for one year, Helton immediately took the Western Kentucky job after the 2018 season and brought in Goff as part of WKU's inaugural staff under Helton.
But the Hilltoppers launched a new offensive direction in December when Helton tabbed Zach Kittley offensive coordinator to ramp up the WKU offense.
Kittley arrived at WKU after turning Houston Baptist's offense into a high-flying, aerial show that attracted the attention of many throughout college football.
However, Kittley's style of offensive line play isn't a mesh with Goff's coaching style as WKU moves forward.
It's clearly an offensive philosophical issue and not one of Goff's results with his unit. In 2020, according to Pro Football Focus, Goff's Western Kentucky offensive line ranked No. 14 national in the Football Bowls Subdivision at the end of the regular season.
Though the group was PFF's No. 16 run-blocking unit, the Toppers' offensive line actually finished the season ranked No. 1 in pass protection.
Additionally, WKU had three of the top-10 ranked offensive linemen in Conference-USA for the 2020 season, according to PFF.
In 2019, Goff's unit also closed with PFF's highest-ranked pass-blocking unit and top-20 in run blocking.
Though Goff logged a dozen years in the NFL and has spent the past seven-straight years in coaching, he does want to continue his career on the sidelines, per sources.
Western Kentucky plans to promote Stephen Hamby to offensive line coach to fill the role. A highly regarded young offensive assistant, Hamby started his career alongside Kittley at Texas Tech.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest coaching news.