The day before UAB played Miami (Ohio) in the Dec. 16 Bahamas Bowl, Darin Hinshaw was sitting poolside at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort when news broke that Chip Lindsey was departing UCF to become the new offensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina.
Hinshaw’s phone quickly began to buzz.
“I had 10 people call me from UCF and said, ‘You’ve got to call Gus; you’ve got to call Gus; you’ve got to call Gus.’ And guess what I did? I walked right over to the beach and I called him,” Hinshaw said.
Gus Malzahn didn’t answer the phone but Hinshaw left a long voicemail expressing his interest to replace Lindsey.
Less than three weeks later, Malzahn introduced Hinshaw as UCF’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during a media conference Wednesday at FBC Mortgage Stadium.
“I’m excited to be home, to be at UCF, to be here where I sweat, I bleed black and gold,” said Hinshaw, who played quarterback at UCF from 1991-94. “The people that know me in the coaching industry know that. They know my passion.
“This is my dream job.”
What Hinshaw likely didn’t know when he called Malzahn in the middle of December was that the UCF coach was considering no longer calling the plays.
When Malzahn was introduced as UCF’s new head coach in February 2021, he indicated that he planned on calling the plays on offense for the remainder of his career.
Halfway through Year Two in Orlando, however, Malzahn felt a shift in his attitude toward running UCF’s offense. That’s when he met with UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir to explain his plan.
Malzahn cited how college football has dramatically changed since he took over at UCF beginning with the approval of the one-time free transfer for athletes in April 2021 and the introduction of Name, Image and Likeness rules in July that summer.
“It was the change in the age of college football and the new challenges of college football,” he said. “It’s not the same, or even close to the same as two years ago. It’s almost like an NFL roster that you’re managing.”
Hinshaw understands the significance of Malzahn handing over the offense.
“The No. 1 guy I have to thank is Gus Malzahn,” Hinshaw said. “The passion he has, he’s been an icon in offense for 25 years. For him to give me the play-calling duties is a great honor and I want to make him proud.”
Hinshaw described himself as an aggressive play-caller and explained the style of offense UCF will run with him in the driver’s seat.
“You’re going to see an offense that’s going to be fast,” he said. “We’re going to be multiple [in] tempo. We’re going to have a hard-nosed physical run game and we’re going to throw the football down the field. We’re going to have an efficient passing game but we’re going to take some shots.”
Hinshaw previously spent the 2021 season at UCF but only as an analyst working on the defensive side of the ball. He then left to become the offensive coordinator at UAB this year.
Prior to one season at UAB and UCF, Hinshaw spent five on Mark Stoops’ staff at Kentucky from 2016-20 as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Although Hinshaw didn’t call plays at Kentucky while working alongside offensive coordinator Eddie Gran, the former UCF quarterback has done so throughout his career, including at Middle Tennessee State (2003-05) and Georgia Southern (’06).
He also helped call plays at UCF when he was the team’s starting quarterback in the mid-1990s playing under coach Mike Kruczek.
“I’ve been calling plays my whole life,” Hinshaw said. “One thing Mike Kruczek did was train me as a player. As a freshman, I didn’t get to call anything. As a sophomore, I started to. As a junior, he trained me to call the offense from the line of scrimmage.
“That is when you’re at your peak — when you can sit there and be able to call the offense and [think] what he’s thinking as the offensive coordinator as the quarterback. That’s how I like to train quarterbacks. I want them to think like I am.”
As for Malzahn, he’s looking forward to his new chapter at UCF.
“This day in time, I don’t know how head coaches can be play-callers,” he said. “There are probably a few out there that can still pull it off but there are more challenges than ever before. I’m really excited about the next step in my head coaching career — spending time with the players and overseeing the program.”
While it was a phone call from the Bahamas that opened the door for this hire to be made, it was Hinshaw’s one season working as a defensive analyst at UCF that caught the attention of Malzahn.
“The only reason I’m here is — No. 1, Gus Malzahn — but because Gus Malzahn called me to come work on defense,” Hinshaw said. “He got to see me work, how hard I worked and my passion for this university.”
Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede.
