Matt House Leaving Kentucky For Kansas City
The ongoing situation between the Wildcats defensive coordinator and the NFL took yet another turn Tuesday. After originally deciding on Monday to remain in Lexington Matt House is now leaving Kentucky for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is going to be the new linebackers coach under head coach Andy Reid.
A Crazy Few Days
This whole situation began on Friday with a tweet from ESPN’s Field Yates.
Source: the Chiefs are expected to hire University of Kentucky defensive coordinator Matt House as their linebackers coach.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 8, 2019
Late Saturday night the university said House would be remaining at Kentucky. From there things got more interesting, mostly concerning the details of House’s buyout.
My understanding is, #Kentucky was originally slated to negotiate the buyout for Matt House to be the #Chiefs LBs coach… then decided against it. Was told House wanted to be in KC. Position open once again. https://t.co/GwzADAoVJI
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 10, 2019
From there a Kansas City beat writer added more information to the situation.
So regarding Matt House, who was expected to be the Chiefs’ new LB coach:
I’m told UK decided not to let him out of his deal…but they only did that AFTER they’d agreed to negotiate the buyout. Tough break for House, who wanted to join the Chiefs, and KC.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) February 10, 2019
Late Monday night the Chiefs and House began talking again. Again the issue of House’s 150,000 buyout remained the sticking point. However it seems the Chiefs were unwilling to pay the money. Following the second round of talks Kansas City agreed to pay the buyout and the deal is done.
A Bright Coaching Future
In taking the linebackers coach position he is reuniting with Steve Spagnuolo. The new Chiefs defensive coordinator and House previously coached together with the St. Louis Rams from 2009-2011.
Long considered a coach with a very bright future, House is credited with developing Aaron Donald at Pittsburgh, now one of the best defensive linemen in football. Furthermore he is credited for helping turn Josh Allen from a two start recruit to a top three pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
House’s enters into a great situation in Kansas City. The Chiefs were a coin flip away from winning the AFC before losing to eventual champion New England. They are led by NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes, who quarterback’s one of the best teams in the NFL. As a result the Chiefs are a popular pick to represent the conference in Super Bowl 54.
Who Takes Over For House
Now that we know Matt House is leaving Kentucky for Kansas City the question is who replaces him. Most speculation centers on Brad White. The current outside linebackers coach spent five years with the Indianapolis Colts before coming to Lexington last season.
Well that weird situation is over. And surely Stoops will just promote Brad White, who left the NFL to come here and then helped turn Josh Allen into the best defensive player in college football. https://t.co/U233vzKTBd
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) February 12, 2019
In addition to White Stoops said on a Kentucky Sports Radio interview today he would consider his brother Mike Stoops. After being fired from Oklahoma he is now an off-field analyst for Nick Saban at Alabama.
In 2018 under House Kentucky’s defense ranked sixth in the country in points allowed. In addition they placed in the Top 25 in yards allowed with 337 a game. However whomever the guy heading the defense next season has a number of players to replace. In addition to Allen the entire secondary will be brand new. All totaled six of the eight Kentucky players receiving an NFL Combine invitation are on defense.
Again after some back and forth Matt House is leaving Kentucky for the Kansas City Chiefs. Stay with Last Word On College Football for more Wildcats news. In addition we have a couple of really fun features over the next few weeks.
