Being reported by multiple sites but not confirmed yet, but it appears that Mississippi State offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Les Koenning will be the next wide receivers coach for the Longhorns. Koenning’s hire would confirm that former WR coach Darrell Wyatt will not be returning.
Koenning played at Texas as a wide receiver from 1977-1980 and started his coaching career with the Longhorns in 1981. Prior to being at Mississippi State, he was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M under head coach Dennis Franchione from 2003-2007.
A week into the Charlie Strong era and we’re finally starting to learn what the next coaching staff at Texas will look like. We’ve known the names of the defensive coordinator (Vance Bedford) and linebackers coach (Brian Jean-Mary) for a while now but that’s it. Over the weekend, through a series of tweets and leaks from a team meeting almost the entire staff is now known. Huge questions remain about offensive coordinator, but here’s how the Texas coaching staff looks as of today:
Head coach: Charlie Strong
Offensive coordinator/offensive line: Joe Wickline
In the conversation as the best offensive line coach in college football, Wickline is a guy Mack Brown tried to lure away from Oklahoma State a few years ago but Strong got the job done. Someone Texas fans will love to watch coach on the Longhorn Network, Wickline could mean we finally see a Texas offensive line capable of imposing their will in the trenches. At his introductory press conference Strong confirmed that Wickline would be the team’s offensive coordinator and call plays, something he has not done in the past.
Quarterback: Shawn Watson
A lot of consternation from Longhorn fans when Watson was thought to be the next OC but at the team meeting he was introduced as only the team’s quarterbacks coach. Watson was most recently the offensive coordinator at Louisville with Strong after stints at Colorado and Nebraska.
Running backs: Tommie Robinson
The USC running backs coach is a big hire. Robinson has NFL and college experience and also has a lot of experience in Texas as he spent time at TCU, Oklahoma State, and with the Dallas Cowboys.
Wide receivers: Les Koenning
Mississippi State OC/QB coach who played at Texas as a wide receiver from 1977-1980. Has done stints as an wide receivers coach, QB coach, and offensive coordinator at Texas, TCU, Alabama, Houston, Rice, and in the NFL. Prior to being at Mississippi State, he was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M under head coach Dennis Franchione from 2003-2007.
Tight ends: Bruce Chambers (?)
A Texas coach since Mack Brown’s first season, Chambers will be on the Texas staff in some fashion. It was originally believed that he would stay on as tight ends coach but recent rumors are that Chambers’ role may transition to recruiting only.
Defensive coordinator: Vance Bedford
A two-time All-Southwest Conference player as Texas defensive back, Bedford is coming home after nearly 30 years as a coach. Bedford was at Florida and Louisville with Strong and will be a “walk around” defensive coordinator and will not be responsible for a specific position.
Defensive line: Chris Rumph
Rumph was hired away from Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama where he coached for the last 3 seasons including 2 national titles. Like all of Coach Strong’s new staff, a great recruiter who should be able to assemble and coach up some great defensive talent.
Linebackers: Brian Luc Jean-Mary
Jean-Mary coached linebackers and was recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach at Louisville under Strong. Jean-Mary, who was a finalist for 2013 Linebackers Coach of the Year award, was previously at Georgia Tech and North Alabama.
Secondary: Chris Vaughn
Vaughn comes from Memphis where he coached cornerbacks. He previously served on Houston Nutt’s staffs at Arkansas and Ole Miss. Vaughn will also reportedly be in charge of the Texas special teams units.
Stength and conditioning: Pat Moorer
Maybe the most exciting change, Moorer has a great reputation and appears to be a coach who will be able to change Texas players’ attitudes in the weight room and on the field. Even injured players have to keep working in “The Pit” until they’re ready to get back on the field.
Definitely an impressive staff assembled with recruiting in mind. The biggest question marks are offensive coordinator and in the secondary with Texas legend Duane Akina departing. But if Wickline and Rumph can remake the trenches on both sides of the ball we’ll start to see a difference pretty quickly.
Stay tuned for updates as the last couple of spots are filled and things are made official.
Updates
Added Les Koenning as WR coach. (1/15 8:44am)ficial.
Added note about Wickline being OC and playcaller. (1/16 9:49am)
New Texas head coach Charlie Strong had his first press conference today where he was introduced to Texas fans by school president Bill Powers and AD Steve Patterson. Coach Strong spoke for a bit about Texas tradition, his time at Louisville, and his plans for getting Texas Football back on track.
Watch the full video of Coach Strong’s press conference:
Really enjoyed listening to him speak about football and his philosophy on building a program. Funny and genuine. Said all the right things and sounded like he meant them. Also great to see his respect for Darrell Royal in there too.
Based off his jokes at the expense of the recruiting sites, I’m guessing that a lot of the people claiming he isn’t good with media are media members he didn’t glad hand enough. Despite some Internet blathering, he appeared to be a guy who will be as good with the media and big money donors as he wants to be.
And watching Twitter reactions I’m not the only one who is excited about Coach Strong’s arrival, it sounds like he is already firing up current, future, and past Longhorn players:
I'm no longer at Texas but #CoachStrong is getting me pumped just listening to his press conference!! Yes sir! #TexasStrong #NewEra
— Aaron Williams (@ajwilliams23) January 6, 2014
And:
Watching the Coach Strong press conference and can't help but to get excited about the Future of the Longhorn Program. #GoHorns
— Kenny Dwayne Vaccaro (@KennyVaccaro4) January 6, 2014
Isn’t it awesome to be excited about Texas Football again? Welcome to the Forty Acres Coach Strong.
Both Orangebloods.com and Horns247 are reporting that Charlie Strong will be the next Texas head coach. Before being the Louisville head coach, Strong was an assistant at Notre Dame, South Carolina, and Florida.
(via Texas FanGuide)
There are pros and cons to every potential next head coach. Yes even the great Nick Saban.
Not enough experience. Too old. No big wins. Doesn’t know Texas. Can’t recruit.
Coach Art Briles has won big at Baylor. Can he put the Longhorns back on top?
My concern about Art Briles is more complicated than that. He certainly has experience. He’s taken Baylor to unimaginable heights both on the field and in recruiting. He’s respected by Texas high school coaches.
The big question is, how good is Baylor really?
Their resurgence has coincided with a time when both Texas and Oklahoma are as bad as they’ve been in 15 years. Texas Tech is just ok. The Husker and Aggies are gone. The Big 12 was incredibly strong just 5 years ago, but now the conference is just a shell of it’s former self. How high would people be on Briles if he has 2-3 more losses each of the last 3 seasons?
Yes Baylor is leaps and bounds better than they’ve ever been before and Briles deserves all the credit for that but I’m not sure that’s any more impressive than what Charlie Strong has done at Louisville or James Franklin at Vanderbilt. And Strong and Franklin are probably last on the Texas fan base’s wishlist. I’m high on Briles and would be excited if he was hired by Texas, but he’s 58 and his defenses have ranged from ok to awful. He’s not the slam dunk that many Texas fans think he is.
But hey, Briles might not work out at Texas but at least the offense should be fun to watch.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Jermichael Finley who is in ICU after neck injury suffered late in the Packers’ game against the Browns yesterday. Full story on ESPN. Good luck Jermichael, get well soon.
Great video as always from godzillatron24 showing all the Longhorns’ big plays from last night’s win over Kansas State:
Both Orangebloods and Horns247 reporting that Jordan Hicks’ injury suffered during Kansas State game will cause him to miss the rest of the year. Rumors are that it’s a torn achilles.
Great video feature from Longhorn Network on Texas deep snapper (and ex-Green Beret) Nate Boyer.
Posted June 27th, 2013 by Brian
Filed under: Football, Recruiting
Texas City brothers running back D’Onta and electric inside wide receiver Armanti Foreman of Texas City have committed to Texas.
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