Western Kentucky hires Notre Dame offensive coordinator Sanford as new head coach

Mike Sanford, who coached quarterbacks at Western Kentucky University six years ago, is rejoining the Hilltoppers as their new head coach, Athletics Director Todd Stewart announced Wednesday.

WKU planned a 3 p.m. CST open-to-the-public press conference to introduce Sanford at Houchens-Smith Stadium in Bowling Green.

Sanford has spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame.

Sanford, 34, played quarterback at Boise State from 2000-04.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UNLV in 2005 and 2006 before moving on to assistant coaching jobs at Stanford and Yale. In 2010, Sanford was a member of Willie Taggart’s first coaching staff at Western Kentucky, where he served as passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Sanford returned to Stanford for three seasons, then spent one year as offensive coordinator at Boise State before joining Notre Dame.

Sanford is the son of former University of Louisville offensive coodinator Mike Sanford Sr., who is now the head coach at Indiana State.

Sanford replaces Jeff Brohm, who left Western Kentucky for Purdue at the end of the regular season.

The Hilltoppers are preparing to play in the Boca Raton Bowl against Memphis on Dec. 20.

This story was originally published December 14, 2016 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Western Kentucky hires Notre Dame offensive coordinator Sanford as new head coach."