Texas Longhorns News: New WR coach hire official, hoops is hot

Football coaching hires and hoops action for both programs once again dominated the headlines for the Texas Longhorns in the last 24 hours or so. Texas football got the news cycle underway in the last couple of days thanks to a pair of notable coaching hires.

On Jan. 23, head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns made the hire of former LBJ head football coach Jahmal Fenner as the next director of high school relations official.

And then, the Longhorns continued announcing coaching hires by making the replacement for Brennan Marion public. Texas officially announced the hiring of the former Jacksonville Jaguars first-year wide receivers coach Chris Jackson on Jan. 24.

Jackson looked to be the top candidate for the Longhorns to replace Marion as the wide receivers coach for the last week or so. And with the Jaguars getting knocked out of the NFL playoffs in the Divisional Round last weekend following a one-score loss at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs, this week looked like the right time to make the hire.

This will be the first time that Jackson will be coaching at the collegiate level. He spent the last few years with the Jags and Chicago Bears as an assistant coach in the NFL.

In hoops news, the Texas men’s team was able to pick up a very convincing win at home at the Moody Center on Jan. 24 over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Senior standout guard Marcus Carr led the way for the Longhorns with 21 points to a comfortable 89-75 win.

https://twitter.com/TexasMBB/status/1618100855609372672

The solid outing from Carr and the Longhorns saw this team sweep Oklahoma State for the regular season series.

Other Texas Longhorns news on Jan. 25

https://twitter.com/TexasLonghorns/status/1618278352313548805

• Women’s hoops will return home to the Moody Center for a highly-anticipated matchup in Red River against the No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners on Jan. 25. Texas will be looking for its second straight win if it can top Oklahoma in Red River.

• Tanner Witt and Lucas Gordon from the Texas baseball team were both selected as preseason All-Big 12 Team honorees.
• Per Texassports.com, sophomore Mia Scott was selected as part of the USA Softball Top 50 Watch List for the 2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

https://twitter.com/TexasTFXC/status/1618307965152378881

• Julien Alfred for Texas track and field was named the Big 12 Performer of the Week. She nearly broke an NCAA record in the 60-meter dash last week.

https://twitter.com/Big12Conference/status/1617960788689555463

• More Big 12 weekly honors were handed out to a standout Longhorn in women’s tennis. Charlotte Chavatipon was named the Big 12 Player of the Week.

News around the Big 12

https://twitter.com/Big12Conference/status/1618104034086506500

• The Big 12 had another wild night in hoops. Another top-five team fell on the road with the No. 12 Iowa State Cyclones topping the No. 5 Kansas State Wildcats at Hilton Coliseum in Ames on Jan. 24 80-76.

• Oklahoma State football announced its next defensive coordinator hire to replace Derek Mason. Former Gannon University defensive coordinator and Youngstown State linebackers coach Bryan Nardo was the choice for head coach Mike Gundy and the Pokes.
• A couple of days ago, Athlon Sports released their early Big 12 football predictions for the 2023 season. Athlon had Texas winning the Big 12 with the defending National Champion runner-up TCU Horned Frogs and Oklahoma Sooners rounding out the top three in that order.

What we’re reading around FanSided

https://twitter.com/MattVerderame/status/1618291869548675073

• FanSided’s Matt Verderame ranked the last 32 first-overall picks in the NFL mock-draft style, with Peyton Manning going No. 1.
• Ole Hotty Toddy: Transfers don’t win championships in college football, despite some of the impressive moves that Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is making in the portal the last couple of offseasons.
• Husker Corner: A former Husker gives his take on “why Brett Maher is better than you”.