Kentucky special teams coordinator and safeties coach Craig Naivar has left the program after accepting a job at Houston, sources told The Cats’ Pause Thursday morning. Naivar is the second assistant to leave the program this offseason, following former offensive coordinator Neal Brown, who accepted the head coaching position at Troy on Nov. 30.

“This is a hell of a deal here,” Naivar told The Cats’ Pause Thursday afternoon. “Mark has got a great thing going, this thing is about to go through the roof with the direction he’s got recruiting wise. We finished a little bit short this year, but the direction from 2-10 to where we’re at right now…the difference in a year is dramatic. Those things are just going to keep on coming. So those things were hard to say no to, but to get back in an area that I’m really, really familiar with can help recruiting wise and all that stuff, it was just an opportunity I couldn’t say no to.”

Naivar is reunited with new Houston coach Tom Herman, who he coached alongside at Sam Houston State, Texas State and Rice.  The Texas native has spent the majority of his coaching career in his home state. His position has not yet been finalized.

Naivar joined Mark Stoops’ staff in March after three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Texas State. Kentucky ranked No. 100 in kickoff return defense and No. 114 in punt return coverage. The Wildcats allowed four special teams touchdowns, the most in the SEC.

However, the Wildcats safeties saw impressive outputs in 2014. A.J. Stamps (4) and Marcus McWilson (3) combined for seven of the team’s 15 interceptions. Stamps was fifth among the team in tackles with 56.