:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58307199/noel_mazzone.0.jpg)
Though it’s still unclear whether Texas Longhorns head coach Tom Herman will hire an offensive-minded coach as the 10th assistant, he did add depth to the offensive braintrust by hiring former Texas A&M Aggies offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone as a quality control coach on Friday, according to Orangebloods and later confirmed by Horns.
However, the hire isn’t official yet:
Am told the report that former #TAMU OC Noel Mazzone is taking a quality control job at #Texas is very premature. Things are really fluid at this time of year.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 12, 2018
The 60-year-old New Mexico native’s coaching career has spanned nearly four decades since serving as a graduate assistant for two year at New Mexico starting in 1980.
During that time, he’s worked under Tommy Tuberville at Ole Miss, Dennis Erickson at Oregon State and Arizona State, Chuck Amato at North Carolina State, Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss, Jim Mora at UCLA, and Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M.
As a result, Mazzone has significant experience working for a variety of head coaches with different offensive philosophies.
When Mazzone arrived in College Station in 2016, he was running a simple, tempo-based spread offense that bore some similarities to the Air Raid, but used fewer passing concepts and more running concepts. Mazzone also used run-pass options extensively and a variety of formations utilizing a small number of plays.
Mazzone wouldn’t solve the play-calling issues that plagued offensive coordinator Tim Beck during the 2017 season in terms of pressing for the perfect call and going away from successful plays. However, Mazzone could help develop more complimentary plays, reduce the playbook to a few base plays, and serve as an insurance policy in case Herman wants to make a midseason change at offensive coordinator, much like Greg Robinson was for Mack Brown in 2013.