The Texas Longhorns made some notable additions to their football staff this week.
The team has hired former Pittsburgh and Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst, former Washington State linebacker Payam Saadat, and former NFL assistant Joe DeCamillis.
According to reports, Chryst will serve as an offensive analyst. The coach was a quarterback at Wisconsin in the 1980s and has spent almost 30 years of his career as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, often producing high-scoring teams.
Saadat will help coach on the defensive side of the ball. He has been coaching at the FCS level since 2004, with a brief stop in the FBS at Army, where he eventually became a co-defensive coordinator.
DeCamillis joins as a special assistant to the head coach. He is a decorated NFL special teams coach who has spent time in Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, New York (Giants), Jacksonville, Chicago, and Los Angeles (Rams) and has won two Super Bowls.
All three coaches will have “special assistant to the head coach” as one of their official titles under Steve Sarkisian.
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BRIEFLY
— The Southeastern Conference (SEC) will continue to have an eight-game conference schedule when Texas and Oklahoma join in 2024. There has been plenty of outside pressure for the conference to move to a nine-game conference schedule, but the conference is interested in preserving its biggest rivalries. The conference will also eliminate divisions in the 2024 season. The scheduling format beyond 2024 is still being determined.
— Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark held a videoconference with media members on Friday and said the conference has a plan for future expansion.
— Louisiana-based Tigeraire has created air-conditioned helmets with systems that allow players to control where the air goes and how much air is released. The system also features a defogging mechanism for players who wear visors. LSU will wear the helmets for all games and practices in 2023.
–Former Jackson State safety Shilo Sanders is transferring to Colorado to join his dad, Deion Sanders, and his brother, Shedeur. According to Bleacher Report, Shilo is the eighth Jackson State player to follow his former coach to Boulder, including Shedeur and former No.1 overall recruit Travis Hunter.
— Former UCF and Florida State quarterback McKenzie Milton has been hired as an offensive analyst for Tennessee. Milton was once considered a top pro prospect before suffering a devastating knee injury that jeopardized his playing career. He played three seasons under now-Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel while at UCF.
–Ohio State has hired Joe Philbin as an offensive analyst, and he will work closely with the offensive line. Philbin spent the last three seasons as the offensive line coach for the Dallas Cowboys.
