AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas football staff is nearly complete, as head coach Steve Sarkisian officially unveiled the hiring of nine new assistants on Friday.
"I really love the staff. I love the experience. I love the youth. I love the energy. I love the recruitability factor that they bring," he said.
Sarkisian still has an additional linebackers coach to hire, but met with local reporters nevertheless to discuss his overall optimism surrounding the staff.
“It was about trying to assemble the best staff I could hire," Sarkisian said. "We really did a good job of putting the jigsaw puzzle together.”
The current staff goes as follows:
- Jeff Banks: Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach
- Andre Coleman: Wide Receivers Coach
- Bo Davis: Defensive Line Coach
- Stan Drayton: Offensive Run Game Coordinator and Running Backs Coach
- Kyle Flood: Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach
- Blake Gideon: Safeties Coach
- Terry Joseph: Defensive Passing Game Coordinator and Secondary Coach
- Pete Kwiatkowski (quit-COW-ski): Defensive Coordinator and Outside Linebackers Coach
- AJ Milwee: Quarterbacks Coach
- Torre Becton: Director of Football Performance
The full bios of each member of the new Texas staff can be found here.
The newly assembled staff features a mix of coaches with connections to the state of Texas and the University of Texas, coaches Sarkisian knows well and has personally coached with and coaches with Power Five pedigree that come well regarded by their peers.
Andre Coleman and Stan Drayton have been retained from the previous staff. Bo Davis returns to the Longhorns, where he coached under Mack Brown. Blake Gideon is a former Texas safety and is now coaching the Texas safeties.
"He had kind of come across my radar a year ago when I had a couple of job opportunities that I ended up not going on," Sarkisian said. "When this job came about and I ended up taking this job, it just seemed like a no-brainer."
Offensive coordinator Kyle Flood, quarterbacks coach A.J. Milwee and tight ends/special teams coach Jeff Banks were all poached from Alabama.
"They know my personality and they know my key buzzwords," Sarkisian said in regard to the benefit of his familiarity with them. "They know my key coaching points; they know the things that excite me; they know the things that can maybe make me upset. They made the decision that they wanted to join up and be a part of it, and I welcomed them with open arms."
Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski was also someone Sarkisian welcomed gladly.
Sarkisian, a former head coach at USC, called Kwiatkowski, the former defensive coordinator at Washington, someone who has been "a thorn in my side over the past decade."
Kwiatkowski churned out 17 NFL Draft picks in his seven seasons with the Huskies.
With the staff nearly completely assembled, now begins the work for Sarkisian – work that will begin with seeking the support and buy-in of a group of upperclassmen that, for some, will now be on their third position coach during their time on campus.
“Trust equals time plus consistency, and we have to develop trust, right? We are a relationship-based operation and that starts with me. It starts with being authentic. It starts with really trying to develop a genuine relationship with our players," Sarkisian said.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: