Steve Sarkisian reportedly taps former assistant to fill coordinator role at Texas

Steve Sarkisian is making a move to round out his coaching staff as Texas looks to get back to the College Football Playoff.

Sarkisian is set to hire Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen to be the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, 247Sports reported, a move that will fill an opening created by Jeff Choate’s departure to be the head coach at Nevada.

Nansen is a familiar face for the Longhorns’ coaching staff.

Nansen was on Sarkisian’s staff at Washington from 2009-13 and went with Sarkisian to Southern Cal in 2014. Nansen was also on the same staff as current Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski in 2000 at Montana State.

Nansen joined the Arizona staff ahead of the 2022 season, and before that Nansen spent the previous 2 seasons coaching the defensive line for UCLA and has coached in the Pac-12 since 2009.

Arizona’s defense was 5th in the Pac-12 in total defense during the 2023 season, as it gave up 358 yards per game.

Arizona’s defense this past season went from yielding 36.5 points per game in 2022 to giving up 20.8 points per game during the 2023 season, which ranked No. 26 in FBS. That defensive improvement helped Arizona go from 5-7 in 2022 to 9-3 this season.

BREAKING: Steve Sarkisian hiring former assistant Johnny Nansen as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, sources tell @mzenitz and myself.https://t.co/1Op9aPZKky

— Chip Brown (@ChipBrown247) January 6, 2024

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.