When former Georgia OL coach Stacy Searels got on the plane Wednesday to make the trip from Athens to Austin, it seemed pretty clear that he was going to become the next Texas offensive line coach. The misses on Jeff Grimes and Steve Addazio were simply too high profile to afford having another coach come to Austin, only to leave without taking the job.
Searels arrived on Wednesday evening with his wife and was met at the airport by Sally Brown, who reportedly took the couple out to dinner and soon after reports began to emerge that Searels would indeed take the job. On Thursday afternoon, the hire became official.
Of all the coaching hires, Searels has probably taken the most initial heat from the fanbase and those issues will be explored here in the coming days, but first some large-picture perspective.
Nearly 50 days after Texas announced that Greg Davis, Mike Tolleson, and Mac McWhorter would not return for the 2011 football season, the coaching search is finally over. In the end, Major Applewhite, Bruce Chambers, and Oscar Giles are the only holdovers from last season's staff, with Bryan Harsin, Darrell Wyatt, Bo Davis, Manny Diaz, and Jerry Gray all joining the football staff and Bennie Wylie assuming the role of strength and conditioning coach for the football program.
All in all, the search has to be considered an unqualified success, as up and down as it was at times -- notable low points include the departure of Will Muschamp and the speculation in the moments following that Texas could lose Major Applewhite as well and Duane Akina's unexpected decision to make a lateral move to Arizona. High points include the hiring of bright young minds like Harsin and Diaz and the quick turnaround with Jerry Gray replacing Duane Akina in less than 24 hours.
Now that it's all over, how do you feel about the process, Longhorn fans?