Sarkisian brings 3 coaching staff additions into 2022 season
July 28, 2022
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the July 26, 2022 flip book.
Heading into his second year as Texas’ head coach, Steve Sarkisian has added a number of new talents to the roster, including three new assistant coaches, in the hopes of improving upon his inaugural 5–7 campaign.
Gary Patterson, TCU’s former head coach, is perhaps the most notable of the additions given his 21-season coaching tenure at one of Texas’ rivals. Patterson officially joined the Longhorns staff in January as a special assistant to the head coach. Under this title, Patterson will focus on scouting and defensive strategy, that side of the ball being Patterson’s specialty.
During his time at TCU, the two-time AP Coach of the Year amassed a 181–79 record with six conference titles and 11 double-digit win seasons, including an undefeated 2010 campaign that ended with a Rose Bowl victory and No. 2 final ranking in the AP Poll.
Patterson is notorious among Texas fans because of his 7–3 record against the Longhorns since the Horned Frogs joined the Big 12 in 2012.
When Patterson was let go by TCU after a 3–5 start in 2021, Sarkisian saw an opportunity to bring the defensive mind to Austin, a process that the second-year head coach alluded to at Big 12 Media Days in Arlington, Texas.
“Having coach Patterson on board has probably been something that has excited me most of the things that we’ve done this off-season,” Sarkisian said July 14. “So to get him on board, which was not easy — I kept swinging on him to come down to Austin — has been fantastic.”
With the off-season departure of running backs coach Stan Drayton, now the head coach at Temple, Sarkisian hired Tashard Choice to fill the role.
Choice was a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference rushing champion at his alma mater, Georgia Tech. He was selected in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, playing there from 2008-11 during his six-season professional career.
After his career in the NFL, Choice took up coaching at North Texas and was one of six finalists for the FootballScoop’s Running Backs Coach of the Year Award in 2018. From there, he went back to Georgia Tech to be the running backs coach before being hired by Sarkisian in December.
“He’s been everything to me,” junior running back Bijan Robinson said at Big 12 Media Days. “He’s a young coach, and he has a lot of energy. … He always makes sure that I’m on track to become the best player I can be.”
Rounding out the coaching staff additions is Brennan Marion, passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach.
Marion spent one year on the practice squad for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins before breaking into Division I coaching, becoming the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Howard University in 2017.
Most recently, Marion was a member of the University of Pittsburgh’s coaching staff, where the Panthers’ offense earned top-eight finishes in scoring, total offense and passing offense in 2021.
Since being hired in December, Marion has already recruited important players to Texas, including junior wide receiver Isaiah Neyor, one of the top receivers in the transfer portal this off-season.
“Brennan (Marion)’s a great addition to our staff, and I’m so fired up to have him on board,” Sarkisian said in a December release announcing Marion’s hire. “His reputation as a teacher, coach, recruiter and mentor is tremendous, and he’s an innovative coach who will bring a lot of new and unique ideas to our passing game.”
