At last check, Bevo is still employed as the mascot for Texas football.
Otherwise, Longhorns Coach Mack Brown has cleaned house this offseason, rebuilding his coaching staff from scratch with nearly wholesale changes on both sides of the ball since UT’s 5-7 season came to a merciful end.
With last week’s hiring of Georgia’s Stacy Searels to coach the Texas offensive line, here’s the final rundown of the Big 12’s biggest staff shakeup: Longtime offensive coordinator Greg Davis is out, replaced by co-coordinators Major Applewhite, also UT’s running backs coach, and Boise State coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bryan Harsin. Searels replaces offensive line coach Mac McWhorter, who was nudged into retirement. Kansas receivers coach Darrell Wyatt replaces Bobby Kennedy, who left to coach receivers at Colorado.
Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp left his post as Texas’ coach in waiting to become the head coach at Florida. Brown tabbed Mississippi State’s Manny Diaz to take the reigns of Texas’ defense and coach linebackers. Brown hired Alabama’s Bo Davis to coach defensive tackles, replacing Mike Tolleson, who retired. Brown turned to a familiar name in the NFL to coach defensive backs, Seahawks assistant and former Longhorn Jerry Gray. He replaces Duane Akina, who left to join Mike Stoops’ staff at Arizona.
Brown even replaced longtime strength and conditioning coach Jeff Maddon, hiring Bennie Wylie from Tennessee.
Left standing in the carnage are just three holdovers from last year’s staff: Applewhite, tight ends coach Bruce Chambers and defensive ends coach Oscar Giles.
As if we need further proof that the Southeastern Conference is college football’s epicenter, Brown served a reminder, hand-picking four coaches from four different SEC staffs.
Brown’s most intriguing hire, though, was Harsin, the mind behind Boise State’s explosive, multidimensional offense. A year after Texas tried a more rugged, between-the-tackles running game — it didn’t work — Brown turns to a coach known for dizzying formations and trick plays.
“As Major and I started talking about it, it was very obvious to both of us that whatever was best for Texas was best for us,” Brown told reporters on Jan. 10. “It’s about the players. It’s about the fans. It’s about winning. And it’s not about us. We were looking for someone who would move the ball with up-tempo. We were looking for someone who was scoring a lot of points across the country. We feel like we have good receivers and good running backs, so we’re looking for someone who would be balanced with the run and pass. We looked for someone who would be innovative, fun for the fans to watch and fun for the players to be involved with, and that usually is very difficult to find.”
“When we started checking further,” Brown added, “the name that kept coming up was Bryan Harsin.”
Texas has fewer problems to fix on defense, but in Diaz, Brown lassoed a young coordinator — he’s just 36 — who coached alongside Mickey Andrews at Florida State and earned praise for stints at North Carolina State, Middle Tennessee State and his lone season at Mississippi State.
“If I had my ’druthers, I’d like to play a 5-4-5, which you’re not allowed to do, but I want the offense to feel that way,” he said during his introductory news conference earlier this month. “That’s all I want. I want them to look at us and feel like we got about 13-14 guys running around. … We’re going to play like we’re in a bad mood.”
Missouri will see the new Texas staff up close on Nov. 12 when the Tigers play host to the Longhorns.
COWDREY PASSES: Charlie Cowdrey spent eight seasons on the Missouri coaching staff under Dan Devine and Al Onofrio, but he’s also remembered for another crucial contribution to the MU program: He helped deliver All-Big Eight and future Pro Bowl receiver Mel Gray.
Before joining Devine’s MU staff in 1969, Cowdrey coached at Fort Scott, Kan., Community College, which was Gray’s first stop before arriving at Missouri.
“Charlie helped us get Mel Gray,” former MU assistant coach John Kadlec said. “But Charlie was a great coach, too. All the players really looked up to him and genuinely liked Charlie. He was always very interested in the kids off the field and meant a lot to the kids that played for him.”
Cowdrey, 77, an MU assistant from 1969-76, died Tuesday after fighting a long illness. A memorial service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at First Methodist Church in Winfield, Kan.
A native of Camden Point, Cowdrey graduated from Northwest Missouri State and later earned a master’s degree at MU. He spent three seasons as the head coach at Fort Scott before taking over as Devine’s backfield coach at Missouri. From there, Crowdey compiled an 81-86-4 record as a head coach at Illinois State (1977-80), Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan., (1983-91) and Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, (1993-95).
“I tell you what, between Charlie, Clay Cooper, Onofrio and Harry Smith, Devine really had a tremendous bunch of coaches,” Kadlec said.
Memorials have been established with the athletic departments at Southwestern College and Missouri may be sent to Swisher-Taylor & Morris Funeral Home, 803 Loomis, Winfield, KS 67156.
RECRUITING UPDATE: Missouri will unveil its 2011 recruiting class on national signing day Feb. 2, and if there were any lingering doubts, Anthony Pierson confirmed last week he won’t be on the Tigers’ list. Pierson, a running back and cornerback at East St. Louis, Ill., High School, verbally committed to Missouri last spring, but after transferring from Gateway Tech, the same school that produced MU recruit Sheldon Richardson, Pierson backed off his pledge and considered other schools. On Wednesday, he committed to Kansas.
It’s unclear whether Missouri’s scholarship offer to Pierson was still on the table. Pierson told the Tribune via e-mail that he hadn’t been contacted by Missouri’s coaches in two weeks after he “put Mizzou on hold.” He said he spent the last three weeks deciding between Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois and Iowa, finally settling on the Jayhawks over Iowa. “I love Coach” Cornell “Ford,” he wrote, referring to MU’s assistant coach assigned to recruit the St. Louis area, “but not the right fit for me.”
Missouri entered the weekend with verbal commitments from 15 high school recruits, plus a letter of intent from Richardson, a junior college transfer who likely won’t enroll at Missouri until the summer.
A handful of 2012 recruits were expected to be on campus this weekend for MU’s junior-day event.
Reach Dave Matter at 573-815-1781 or e-mail dmatter@columbiatribune.com .
This article was published on page B4 of the Sunday, January 23, 2011 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment