Stacy Searels isn’t a man who likes a lot of change.
Growing up in Georgia, he lived in the same house for 18 years — even the furniture didn’t change.
But when Mack Brown called last week to fill a vacant spot on his coaching staff, Searels couldn’t pass up the chance to come to Texas and change one more time.
“It is a slam dunk to be here at Texas,” Searels said.
Searels spent the past three seasons as the offensive line coach at Georgia, and will serve in the same capacity at Texas.
“Coach Brown told me he was reenergized. He feels like this is his first year here at Texas,” Searels said. “I know he wants to win championships here, and I think he’s got a great plan.”
But the move wasn’t easy for Searels, who has coached in the SEC since 2003. It was hard for him to leave the people he’d formed friendships with, especially the players he’d coached.
“I spent more time with those guys than I did with my wife and children,” he said. “There were times when I shut the door and didn’t know if I was going [to coach at Texas] or not.”
Searels called every recruit committed to Georgia, telling them how hard it was to leave. He also called every player he’d ever coached on the Georgia offensive line.
“Probably the biggest thing to overcome is leaving the players,” he said. “You build a relationship with them, and I love every one of them.”
Searels’ first task as offensive line coach will be recruiting. National signing day is Feb. 3, and the Longhorns’ recruiting class took a hit Friday with the de-commitment of top-ranked offensive lineman Christian Westerman. Searels has experience with recruiting nationally, but believes Texas can serve as an adequate ground for recruiting.
“One of the things that really attracted me [to Texas] was the talent pool in the state of Texas. I think you can get everything you need in the state of Texas,” Searels said. “If there is a great player somewhere else and Coach [Brown] wants me to go recruit him, I’ll be glad to. I want the best players in the country to play here, and you would prefer to have them in the state of Texas.”
