Report: DL coach Oscar Giles, TE coach Corby Meekins flew with Tom Herman to Texas

When new Texas Longhorns head coach Tom Herman arrived in Austin on Sunday morning, he brought tight ends coach Corby Meekins and defensive line coach Oscar Giles with him from Houston, according to Jeff Howe of Horns247.

ESPN confirmed the news a short time later.

Meekins is a longtime Houston-area head coach who spent 14 successful seasons at Houston Westfield prior to joining the Cougars staff under Herman in 2015.

In addition to spending almost his entire coaching career in the state’s largest city, Meekins has further ties to the high school football coaches in Texas because he served on the Texas High School Coaches Association Board of Directors from 2009-12. He also spent nearly ten years on the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association Board of Directors.

The key figure in landing former player Ed Oliver, the first five-star prospect to ever sign with Houston, Meekins also secured a commitment from one of his other formers players, four-star wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland, until he flipped his pledge to Florida on National Signing Day 2016.

Since Meekins has such deep ties to the Houston area, he would be the key recruiting presence there for Herman’s staff at Texas.

Meekins first met Herman in the early 2000s when the new Longhorns head coach was an assistant coach at Sam Houston State.

A Texas defensive end from 1987-90 who compiled 22 career sacks, Giles was a longtime member of Mack Brown’s staff in Austin, so he would be making his return to the Longhorns if he joins Herman’s staff.

The two were graduate assistants together under Brown in 1999 before Giles left for SMU and then his first stint at Houston. In 2005, Brown brought Giles back to Austin, where he was a successful defensive ends coach, tutoring stars like Tim Crowder, Brian Robison, Brian Orakpo, Sergio Kindle, and Jackson Jeffcoat.

After Charlie Strong declined to retain Giles after he took over from Brown, Giles followed former Longhorns defensive coordinator Manny Diaz to Louisiana Tech, helping the Bulldogs record 114 tackles for loss in 2014.

Giles joined Herman’s staff at Houston in 2015.