Texas Football: Horns get huge splash staff hire in Jeff Banks

The latest addition to the new look Texas football coaching staff arrived in a big way on Jan. 14, with the hiring of ex-Alabama STC Jeff Banks.

The coaching staff is really starting to come together for newly hired head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas football program as the 2021 offseason has firmly arrived. Texas originally had the hiring of the former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and the reigning Broyles Award winner Sark announced as their next head coach back on Jan. 2. Sark will take over for the now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman after a roller coaster ride of a 2020 season.

Sark has already made a few notable hires to his coaching staff, and retained a few key pieces from Herman’s group too. A few of the retention coaches included wide receivers coach Andre Coleman and running backs coach Stan Drayton.

And a few of the more notable additions to the coaching staff from outside of the program so far includes former Notre Dame defensive backs coach Terry Joseph and ex-Alabama offensive line coach Kyle Flood. But those won’t carry the magnitude of impact that the latest addition to Sark’s coaching staff will as soon as this offseason.

According to a report from Horns247 on Jan. 14, the Longhorns and Sark have hired away the former Alabama special teams coordinator Jeff Banks to their coaching staff. Banks was also a tight ends coach, among various other roles, with the Texas A&M Aggies for five years.

The contract that the Longhorns signed Banks to is worth a little more than $3 million in total over the course of three years. He will immediately become one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the Big 12. It is also reportedly a significant pay raise from what he was making on staff with the Crimson Tide, around $700,000 per year.

This is a major hire for the Longhorns that should help their fortunes both on the field and on the recruiting trail out of the gates. Banks is one of the best recruiters around the entire college football landscape among Power Five assistants in this day and age.

Former Texas assistant Jay Boulware was the associate head coach of special teams last season, but Sark parted ways with him among a number of others from Herman’s staff last year. Banks should be someone that can bring an immediate spark to the recruiting results for the Longhorns, maybe even for their 2021 signing class.

During the 2020 season, Herman led the Longhorns to finish up with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12), including wins in five of their last six games. Their last game resulted in a 55-23 drubbing of the Colorado Buffaloes in the Alamo Bowl back on Dec. 29.