Texas has officially announced two new hires to their 2020 coaching staff. Wide receivers coach Andre Coleman and cornerbacks coach Jay Valai have joined head coach Tom Herman’s tree of assistant coaches.
Herman has rightfully reshaped his staff this offseason. While this may not be the last shakeup, it’s certainly significant. The Texas football program welcomed the new coaches on Twitter moments ago.
Welcome to Texas @CoachDreColeman. 🤘#ThisIsTexas #HookEm pic.twitter.com/4RU0JPwwJv
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) January 13, 2020
The Longhorns receivers were previously coached by Drew Mehringer and Corby Meekins. Mehringer was fired on Dec. 1, while Meekins was reassigned to an administrative staff position.
Coleman is a former Kansas State offensive coordinator who assisted Texas as an analyst during the 2019 season. Serving as the receivers coach for the Wildcats from 2013-2017, Coleman has an ample amount of experience. As an interm receivers coach during the Alamo Bowl, Coleman showcased his ability to connect with his players and impressed Herman with his offensive mind and attention to detail.
One of the more surprising replacements this offseason was new defensive coordinator Chris Ash’s decision to not retain defensive backs coach Jason Washington. Also serving as a recruiting coordinator, this left a major hole to fill for a young, talented group of cornerbacks.
Welcome to Texas @JayValai. 🤘 #ThisIsTexas #HookEm pic.twitter.com/ZQomkp7UrC
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) January 13, 2020
It appears that Ash has landed his top choice. Former Rutgers coach Jay Valai has joined the Texas staff as a cornerbacks coach. Ash expects to assist with the safeties for the Longhorns in 2020. This two-man group for the back end of Texas’ defense has quite the history together.
Valai played under Ash at Wisconsin in 2010, where he was a captain and starting safety for the Badgers. After experience as a quality control coach for the Georgia Bulldogs and Kansas City Chiefs, Ash hired Valai as the cornerbacks coach at Rutgers for the 2019 season.
In a statement announcing Valai’s hiring, Herman feels confident and optimistic with staff addition.
“As a Texas native, he has a passion for our state, knows it well and will also be a tremendous recruiter for us. Chris Ash coached him as a player, hired him as a coach and thinks the world of him. I really enjoyed my time visiting with Jay and was really impressed by what he’ll bring to our program. We’re thrilled to add him to our staff.”
Texas is surrounded with high expectations and hopeful developments as they enter the 2020 season.