Texas Football: Sarkisian hits home run by hiring Joe DeCamillis to staff

Texas football has made a couple of notable hires to the staff at this point of the offseason that deserve some attention ahead of the 2023 season. On May 26, we talked about the recent hire of the veteran defensive college coach Sayam Paadat as a new special assistant to the head coach.

The presumption with the hire of Paadat is that he could be the special assistant to the head coach hiring that is meant to replace Gary Patterson, who departed from the program earlier in the offseason.

And it now looks like head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns have made another key hire among the special assistants to the head coach recently. The Football Scoop reported on May 27 that Sark and the Longhorns hired the longtime NFL special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis to the staff as a special assistant to the head coach.

Texas football and Steve Sarkisian hire new special assistant Joe DeCamillis

But the report initially came from Chip Brown of Horns247 (paid content) this weekend, which was later confirmed by The Football Scoop.

DeCamillis will reportedly assist special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks by “sharing ideas” and providing analysis.

This is a really solid veteran coaching hire for the Longhorns to bring aboard such an established veteran at the NFL ranks such as DeCamillis. Texas is getting a coach that served as a special teams coordinator or special teams assistant for more than 30 years in the NFL, dating back to his time as an assistant with the Denver Broncos in 1991.

DeCamillis has also served as a special teams coordinator/assistant with the Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, Chicago Bears, and most recently the Los Angeles Rams.

He was part of Super Bowl-winning staffs with the Rams in 2021 and the Broncos in 2015.

Texas gets a valuable addition to the staff with NFL experience

Sark and the Longhorns were able to make a great hire in the longtime NFL coach DeCamillis. Texas got lucky with the timing here it appears.

DeCamillis was let go by head coach Sean McVay and the Rams when LA underwent some coaching staff turnover following a disappointing 5-12 result last season. This will be his first job at the collegiate level after getting 33 years of experience coaching in the NFL.

Sark, Banks, and the Longhorns are clearly ensuring that the special teams unit is up to snuff heading into next season, making a host of moves to upgrade this group this offseason.

Texas’ first portal addition in the 2023 transfer class was the former Stanford Cardinal senior punter and the highest-graded punter in the PAC-12 last season, Ryan Sanborn. The punting game was up and down at best for the Longhorns last season. Adding Sanborn will provide a steadier presence that can help command the field position game in and game out next season.

And while this move isn’t going to help the Texas special teams unit this fall, it’s worth noting that Banks and the Longhorns added a commitment from the nation’s top-ranked punter recruit in the 247Sports Composite in the 2024 class this offseason in Michael Kern.

DeCamillis and Saadat are two of the three big new additions to Texas’ coaching staff so far this offseason. Texas also brought aboard the former Jaguars wide receivers coach Chris Jackson to replace Brennan Marion, who left to take the OC job with UNLV, as the new WR coach.