COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Head Football Coach Eliah Drinkwitz has added offensive assistant coach Bush Hamdan to his new staff, as announced today. Hamdan comes to Mizzou after spending four of the last five seasons on very successful teams at the University of Washington, with a one-year stint with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in the middle. Details of Hamdan’s contract with Mizzou, as well as his specific coaching duties, will be released pending completion of the human resources process.
For the past two seasons, Hamdan served as the Huskies’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Coach Chris Petersen, who he was a quarterback for in his playing days at Boise State (2004-08). He first started working on Petersen’s Washington staff in 2015 as an offensive quality control assistant, and was promoted the following season to wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator. The Huskies won a pair of Pac 12 Conference championships during his tenure in Seattle (2016, 2018) and reached the College Football Playoff in 2016.
“I’m excited to reconnect with Bush, he is an outstanding teacher and has great experience, from his time as a coordinator in the Pac 12, and on successful staffs in the SEC and the NFL,” said Drinkwitz, who coached with Hamdan as part of the Arkansas State staff in 2013. “Bush is a good person who does a great job of connecting with kids and he will be a great addition to our staff.”
The Huskies’ 2018 offense compiled 3,337 passing yards, the fourth-highest total in UW history. In terms of total offense, UW’s 5,805 yards were third-most ever at the school, while the 414.6 yards per game ranked sixth in program history. The 2018 squad also posted top-10 marks in total first downs (310, 4th), first downs by rushing (130, tie-6th) and first downs by passing (156, 2nd).
During the 2016 season, Hamdan coached the prolific wide out duo of John Ross III and Dante Pettis, who set a Pac 12 record with a combined 32 receiving touchdowns. Ross earned All-America honors and later was taken as the No. 9 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, while Pettis went in the second round.
“I had the fortune of working with Coach Drink at Arkansas State and I knew then that he was going to be a rising star in the business,” said Hamdan. “I’ve got such a great amount of respect for him and how he operates, I’m 100 percent on board with his vision. I’m very excited and grateful for the opportunity to help him build something special at Mizzou, and I can’t wait to get started.”
In Hamdan’s season in Atlanta, the Falcons went 10-6 and reached the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs after a 26-13 Wildcard Game win at Los Angeles. He coached QB Matt Ryan, who finished sixth in the league in passing that year, with 4,095 yards.
In his playing days, despite being a reserve quarterback in his time at Boise, Hamdan still played a crucial role in helping Petersen build the Broncos into one of the most competitive programs in the country. He was twice voted team captain by his teammates and coaches as a testament to his leadership, and he also had a big role in calling the legendary “Statue Left” play that won Boise the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
Hamdan spent the 2014 season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Davidson, where he coached starting QB J.P. Douglast to a 66-percent completion percentage and a 130.41 pass efficiency rating. Wide receiver William Morris caught 98 passes for 1,224 yards, a Davidson record. The Wildcats had five players earn postseason honors from the Pioneer Football League, including running back Jeffrey Keil, the offensive freshman of the year.
In 2014, Davidson increased its scoring average BY nearly 10 points from the previous year and its total offense average by 40 yards per game.
Prior to his time at Davidson, he held the title of co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arkansas State, helping to lead the Red Wolves to the 2013 Sun Belt championship and a berth in the GoDaddy.com Bowl, a 23-20 win over Ball State. Starting signal caller Adam Kennedy, a transfer from Utah State recruited by Hamdan, completed 69.2 percent of his 315 attempts for 2,363 yards and a 139.93 efficiency rating while a balanced offensive attack averaged 407.8 yards per game (205.7 by rush and 202.1 by pass). Six Red Wolves earned some level of All-Sun Belt Conference honors in 2013.
In 2012, Hamdan helped coach Florida to an 11-2 record and a berth in the Sugar Bowl as the Gators’ wide receivers coach. He was promoted to the position by Gators head coach Will Muschamp just prior to the start of the season and coached four players who played in the NFL – Frankie Hammond; Solomon Patton; Andre Debose; and Quinton Dunbar.
Prior to his time in Gainesville, Hamdan coached tight ends at Sacramento State in 2011 and was an offensive intern at Maryland in 2010. During his season with the Hornets, he was part of an historic upset of Oregon State in the season opener.
At Maryland, he worked with freshman quarterback Danny O’Brien, who broke nearly every freshman passing record at Maryland, earning ACC Rookie of the Year honors. Hamdan was part of a Ralph Friedgen staff that made one of the biggest turnarounds in recent college history, posting a 9-4 record after having gone 2-10 in 2009. Friedgen promoted Hamdan to quarterbacks coach for the 2010 Military Bowl (a win over East Carolina) after James Franklin left to take the head coaching job at Vanderbilt.
Hamdan began his coaching career as a student assistant at Colorado in 2009, where he worked with offensive coordinator Erik Kiesau, who went on to serve in the same role at Washington.
Hamdan played quarterback at Boise State, earning three varsity letters in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He won the Bronco Excellence Award following his senior season. His last three seasons, all played under Petersen, the Broncos posted a 35-4 overall record, including a perfect 13-0 mark in 2006 and a win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Boise State in 2008 and received his master’s in athletic administration from Idaho State in 2009.
A standout high school quarterback and baseball player at Bishop O’Connell High in Arlington, Va., and a native of Gaithersburg, Md., he earned Washington D.C. all-metro honors. His brother, Gibran, played quarterback at Indiana and in the NFL. Gibran was drafted by the Redskins in 2003 and spent time on the active rosters at Washington, San Francisco and Seattle while also earning NFL Europe MVP in 2006 as a member of the Rhein Fire
