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Reports: Texas DL coach Brick Haley turns down Texas A&M offer

The former LSU coach will remain a brick in Charlie Strong's wall in Austin.

Brick Haley
Brick Haley
LHN screenshot

After several days of consideration and what was reportedly a matching offer from the Texas Longhorns, defensive line coach Brick Haley will remain in Austin for at least a second season after turning down the Texas A&M Aggies, according to multiple reports. Chip Brown of Horns Digest was the first to break the news on Wednesday morning.

Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin is looking for a new position coach to replace departed defensive tackles coach Mark Hagen, who recently left College Station to coach defensive linemen for the Indiana Hoosiers, his alma mater. On Friday, the news first emerged that Sumlin had approached Haley about the possibility of joining his staff under defensive coordinator John Chavis, with whom Haley worked from 2009 to 2014 and reportedly has a strong personal relationship.

In an effort to keep Haley at Texas, head coach Charlie Strong met with his position coach on Monday following the official job offer from A&M, at which point he likely informed Haley that the Longhorns would match the offer from the Aggies. Since Haley made only $235,000 at Texas last year, he's now in line for a raise following a recruiting cycle in which he helped land four prospects from the state of Louisiana. Two of those players were among the five defensive tackles inked by the Longhorns in the 2016 class.

The decision by Haley to stay at Texas and work with the defensive tackle class he assembled is a welcome development because of his recruiting ability and also because of the major staff turnover that has already happened during Strong's tenure. In fact, had Haley left, Strong would have needed to hire a third defensive line coach in three years.

The final remaining hire for Strong this offseason will be a defensive backs coach following last week's dismissal of Chris Vaughn as a result of alleged improprieties during his tenure at Ole Miss. Purdue Boilemakers defensive backs coach Taver Johnson and Arkansas Razorbacks defensive backs coach Clay Jennings are the current frontrunners.