BATON ROUGE - Southern will hire Ken Merchant as the football program's next offensive coordinator.

Matt Zenitz was first to report the news, and sources close to the program have confirmed the hire with WBRZ.

Marshall Faulk is expected to hire Sacramento State’s Ken Merchant as his offensive coordinator at Southern, sources tell @CBSSports.

With Merchant as OC, Sac State scored 35+ points in seven of its last 10 games. Before Sac State, he worked at UNLV. pic.twitter.com/1W1knEe7Go

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 20, 2025

This comes just two days after new head coach Marshall Faulk spoke at the Board of Supervisors meeting and said that Kyle Caskey will be the offensive coordinator for the Jags. 

What caused that hire not to finalize is unclear, but Merchant has agreed to run the Jaguar offense in 2026.

Merchant was the offensive coordinator and quarterback's coach at Sacramento State in 2025. He is known for running the up-tempo "Go-Go Offense." 

Southern is also expected to hire Donald Penn II as their offensive line coach. Penn is a 14-year NFL veteran and three-time Pro Bowler.

He also is tied for the NFL record for most touchdowns by an offensive lineman. He started in 184 games and caught six passes for 26 yards and scored four touchdowns.