G.J. Kinne, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Hawai'i last fall and a former professional quarterback with stints in the National Football League and Canadian Football League, has joined the new UCF football staff under head coach Gus Malzahn as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Kinne previously spent one season each with the Philadelphia Eagles handling offensive special projects in 2019, at Arkansas as an offensive analyst 2018 and at SMU as a graduate assistant coach in 2017. He has worked and played for an impressive list of top offensive play-callers including Doug Pederson, Mike Norvell, Chad Morris, Chip Kelly, Ryan Day and Press Taylor.
Working under head coach Todd Graham at Hawai'i in 2020, he tutored sophomore quarterback Chevan Cordeiro who threw for 231.4 yards per game and 14 touchdowns. Cordeiro also rushed for 483 yards and seven TDs, becoming the first Hawai'i quarterback to lead the team in rushing since 1991.
Hawai'i had three games in 2020 in which it gained at least 500 yards in total offense and scored at least 34 points. The Rainbow Warriors finished 5-4 after defeating Houston 28-14 in the New Mexico Bowl behind Cordeiro's three TD passes.
In his one season with the Philadelphia Eagles, he assisted the offensive staff with game-planning for a squad that won the NFC East division title with a 9-7 mark. The Eagles fell to Seattle in a wild-card playoff game.
He served as an offensive analyst at Arkansas under Morris (offensive coordinator in 2020 under Malzahn at Auburn). He previously earned his first collegiate coaching job at SMU under Morris, helping guide the Mustang offensive line as a graduate assistant. Kinne was elevated to SMU's offensive coordinator for the team's match-up with Louisiana Tech in the 2017 Frisco Bowl.
Kinne threw for 9,472 yards and 81 touchdowns as a three-year starter at quarterback at Tulsa in 2009-11. He was named the 2010 Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year and was a second-team All-Conference USA selection in 2011. In that 2010 season he threw for 3,650 yards and 31 TDs—throwing for 406 yards and four TDs versus Southern Miss and rushing for 190 yards against Houston—with Morris as Tulsa's assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterback coach that season.
Kinne originally signed with Texas and then transferred to Tulsa. He sat out the 2008 season at Tulsa, while working with then-Golden Hurricane assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator Malzahn.
He led Tulsa to a victory over Hawai'i in the 2010 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl and a final No. 24 national ranking.
MVP of the inaugural 2012 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, he signed as a free agent with the NFL New York Jets in 2012. He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles (2013 and 2014) and the New York Giants (2015) and worked with those teams' practice squads (also working at receiver with the Eagles in 2015). He signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and later with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 2016.
Originally from Mesquite, Texas, Kinne earned his degree in exercise sports science from Tulsa in 2011. His father Gary Joe was a linebacker at Baylor, a longtime Texas high school football coach and also spent time on the Baylor staff. Kinne and his wife, Summer, are parents of a son, Lincoln.
COACHING EXPERIENCE
| 2017 | SMU | Graduate Assistant |
| 2018 | Arkansas | Offensive Analyst |
| 2019 | Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) | Offensive Special Projects |
| 2020 | Hawai'i | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks |
| 2021 | UCF | Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks |