A former SEC assistant coach is now a head coach in the MAC.

Buffalo announced the hiring of Maurice Linguist on Friday night. Linguist, 37, joined Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan staff earlier this year as defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator. He spent the 2020 season as a defensive backs coach with the Dallas Cowboys.

A Dallas native, Linguist played safety at Baylor 2003-06 and got into coaching as a graduate assistant with the program in 2007. After stops at Valdosta State (2008), James Madison (2009-11), Buffalo (2012-13) and Iowa State (2014-15), Linguist landed in the SEC as the safeties coach at Mississippi State in 2016.

After one season at MSU, Linguist went to Minnesota as defensive backs coach for the 2017 season. He then joined Jimbo Fisher’s staff, serving two seasons as Texas A&M’s cornerbacks coach (2018-19).

Buffalo had a coaching vacancy after Kansas recently hired Lance Leipold.