Zach Kittley is an offensive mastermind. There’s no question about that.

Western Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach comes to The Hill after spending the last three seasons at FCS program Houston Baptist, and three previous years as a graduate assistant coach and assistant quarterbacks coach at Texas Tech. He’s led prolific offensive units, and coached some big-name quarterbacks — including current NFL star Patrick Mahomes.

Now, he’s found a new home in Bowling Green directing WKU’s offense for head coach Tyson Helton.

“Coach Helton reached out to me a couple weeks ago asking me about the opportunity to come be the offensive coordinator here,” Kittley said on a Zoom conference call with reporters on Tuesday morning. “I’ve known about this football program for a long time and what they’ve been doing over the past decade. This is really a great opportunity for me and my family, a step up in my career. Coach Helton’s awesome, and just over the Zoom interview process and all of that, he was just awesome. He’s definitely a guy that I’m excited to work for.”

Kittley joins WKU’s staff after directing three sensational offenses at Houston Baptist as the Huskies averaged 426.6 yards per game in 2019 and 394.3 yards per game in 2018. They played just four games in 2020 due to COVID-19 postponing the FCS season, but Kittley’s unit still averaged 547.5 yards and 33.75 points per contest.

After transforming Houston Baptist’s offense into something special, he’s now tasked with improving the Toppers’ unit, which has averaged just 290.9 yards and 18.8 points through 11 games this season. WKU’s highest-scoring outing of the year has been a 38-point performance in a win over FIU on November 21.

“Bottom line is that I was brought here to light up the scoreboard,” Kittley said. “That’s going to be the attitude that we bring every day. We’re going to to have a mentality that we’re going to score. 40 points a game is kind of the goal. That’s going to be the mentality that I bring. Every meeting that we walk into, we’re going to have that mindset that we’re going to go light up the scoreboard.

“I think the style’s going to be a lot different, and the different playmakers you’re going to see on the field is going to be a different thing for this program.”

While the offense as a hole looks to improve under Kittley, so does the quarterback play. Tyrrell Pigrome — who has started nine games and played in 10 this year — has completed 154-of-264 passes for 1,423 yards and nine touchdowns and rushed 95 times for 328 yards and three TDs.

Kittley said that WKU is “expecting Piggy to be back at quarterback” next season, “and I’m excited to work with him.”

“First and foremost, it all starts with the quarterback. Gotta get the right trigger man in this system,” Kittley said. “There’s a lot of pieces here, a lot of good skill players, a really tough offensive line, so I think the sky’s the limit here. That’s why I’m excited to be here with the players that we currently have and the new guys that we’re going to be able to bring in.”

While the Hilltoppers are preparing for their postseason bowl game, a LendingTree Bowl matchup with Georgia State in Mobile, Alabama on December 26, Kittley said he will be a “fly-on-the-wall” right now while he is getting acclimated to the team.

“I’m just going to try to take it in and get to know guys,” Kittley said. “As far as getting ready for next year, that’s kind of more on my plate right now. Just making sure I get all my film in and cut-ups ready so whenever we get back as a staff in January from the bowl game and holidays, we’re going to be able to hit the ground running and install my scheme with the staff and kind of go from there.”