Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian secured huge victories for his coaching staff this week. After retaining culture cultivator and ace developer Bo Davis as defensive line coach, Sarkisian added one of the better defensive minds in college football.
Former Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen is heading to Austin as a co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. And if you weren’t certain of how special the current era of Texas football is then perhaps a hire of that magnitude should help it sink in.
Nansen led one of the more impressive defensive turnarounds in college football helping Arizona to 10 wins this season. The 10-win season was capped by a bowl win over Oklahoma where the Wildcats forced six turnovers including four by Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold.
We don’t want to take too much from the bowl game, but perhaps his defense found ways to defeat Oklahoma’s offense on film. Certainly the opportunistic defensive style is something Texas will look to take from Arizona’s performance against the Sooners.
Texas lost a critical part of its coaching staff when linebackers coach Jeff Choate left to become head coach at Nevada. Nevertheless, it’s possible that in bringing in Arizona’s proven defensive coordinator the Longhorns have upgraded at the position. Nansen will look to help Texas improve defensively in 2024.
Texas is expected to hire Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen as co-DC and LB coach, sources tell @ChipBrown247 and me for @247sports.
Nansen helped Arizona win 10 games this year and rank third in the Pac-12 in scoring defense in Pac-12 play.https://t.co/HdA5Od3WjW pic.twitter.com/p2g2Y0pC35
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 6, 2024