Former Kentucky Wildcat CJ Conrad Joins Miami Dolphins Coaching Staff

CJ Conrad continues to quickly ascend the coaching ladder. The former Kentucky tight end has parlayed a position in the MAC with a gig in the National Football League.

CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports that Conrad will join the Miami Dolphins as an offensive assistant. He’s the third former UK assistant hired by new head coach Jeff Hafley. Bush Hamdan will be the quarterbacks coach, while Zach Yenser leads the Fins’ offensive line. Conrad and Yenser were on the Kentucky coaching staff together in 2022.

You remember Conrad as a four-year tight end starter at Kentucky. He stepped in early and was rock solid. That’s sort of been the story throughout his coaching career.

He became a graduate assistant for Mark Stoops during the 2020 campaign. Before too long, Conrad was the guy in practice coaching the tight ends. He eventually earned a quality control title. Just before the 2023 season, Eastern Kentucky gave him a call and he was hired to coach the Colonels tight ends.

After one year in the FCS, Conrad returned to his home state of Ohio to coach in the MAC. It’s a great place to cut your teeth and climb the ladder, until your boss gets fired well after the coaching carousel. Just ahead of the busy summer recruiting season, Kent State fired head coach Kenni Burns for violating his contract. One of those violations was misusing a credit card. Ouch.

Despite the difficult circumstances, Conrad reeled in recruits while working for an interim head coach. In addition to his tight end duties, Conrad was promoted to special teams coordinator. The Golden Flashes had the best kickoff returner in the MAC. Da’Realyst Clark was one of only a handful of players with multiple kickoff return touchdowns in 2025. Kent State had just one win over the previous two seasons, but in 2025, they secured five victories.

There was a point during the coaching carousel that we thought Conrad might be in the mix to return to Kentucky. Instead, he’s jumping up to the NFL. A heart condition discovered at the Combine derailed his NFL Draft aspirations. Now he gets a chance to prove himself as a coach.

Sorry, You Must Watch This

If I’m writing about CJ Conrad, I’m including one of my favorite plays in Kentucky football history. Beating Missouri should be more of a norm than an outlier, so this game gets overlooked. It shouldn’t. We see walk-off wins in baseball and buzzer-beaters in basketball. Game-winning field goals aren’t abnormal, but a walk-off touchdown? We may never see something like this again.

Jeff Piecoro: “Touchdown Kentucky (giggles).”
Tom Leach: “I was waiting for the signal.”
Piecoro: “I didn’t need a signal!”