Blake Gideon is now Georgia Tech's defensive coordinator, and Steve Sarkisian is on the hunt for a new safeties coach. Or perhaps a corners coach.
Terry Joseph remains in Austin as Texas's defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach, while Gideon handled the safeties. Joseph's overall expertise allows Sarkisian to chase a "best coach available" rather than hunt for a safeties coach specifically.
On that front, Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods reported three candidates for the position on Monday, two of whom are cornerbacks coaches.
Richardson reported that Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens, Pitt assistant head coach/secondary coach Cory Sanders, and Rutgers cornerbacks coach Mark Orphey are candidates for the post:
-- Mickens has coached Notre Dame's cornerbacks since 2020, where he overlapped one season with Joseph. A former NFL cornerback himself, Mickens's entire career has been spent coaching cornerbacks, with stops at Idaho, Bowling Green, and Cincinnati. A Mickens hire would require him to switch to a position he's never coached, or for Joseph to transition to safeties while Mickens took over the corners.
-- Sanders has no previous ties to the Texas brain trust, but has experience coaching safeties. He's been Pitt's secondary coach since 2018 and was promoted to assistant head coach in 2024. He has coordinator experience at West Florida and St. Joseph's (D-II - IN), and spent four years as the head coach at St. Joseph's, his alma mater.
-- Orphey, a Houston native, has coached Rutgers's cornerbacks since 2022. He spent one season at Alabama -- 2021, the year after Sark took the Texas job -- and previously coached defensive backs at Utah State and Montana State.
Following Gideon's departure late last week, word in the profession was that Florida secondary coach Will Harris and USC secondary coach Doug Belk were the early names linked to the opening. However, Inside Texas reported Saturday that neither coach is likely to make a move to Austin.
Despite losing Thorpe Award-winning cornerback Jahdae Barron and starting safety Andrew Mukuba from a unit that led the nation in yards per attempt, touchdown passes allowed and interceptions, Texas is expected to be loaded again in the secondary in 2025.
The unit will be led by safety Michael Taaffe, a former walk-on who was an Second Team AP All-American in 2024. Texas also returns starting cornerback Malik Muhammad and nickelback Jaylon Guilbeau, plus Derek Williams and Jelani McDonald at safety, both of whom played heavy minutes last season. Additionally, Texas has four former 5-star recruits waiting in the wings in cornerbacks Kobe Black and Kade Phillips and safeties Xavier Filsaime and Jonah Williams.
Sarkisian, defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and Joseph have no shortage of qualified candidates to fill its secondary vacancy. The task is coming to agreement on the right coach as the Longhorns gear up to chase a national championship in 2025.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.