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The staffing changes continued Sunday as Texas Longhorns head coach Tom Herman reassigned offensive coordinator Tim Beck and wide receivers coach Corby Meekins, while Drew Mehringer was fired.
Sources tell me Texas football coach Tom Herman has relieved OC Tim Beck and WR coach Drew Mehringer of their duties, while Co-WR coach Corby Meekins has been reassigned. Beck will have a non-OC role. Mehringer is fired. Meekins will have an off-the-field position.
— Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) December 1, 2019
Beck joined the Texas coaching staff as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2017 as part of Herman’s inaugural staff. Beck spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State prior to coming to Texas. In 2019, Beck helped led the Texas offense to a 468.2 yards per game offensive output, good enough for No. 15 in the country, though Herman has served as the primary play caller on offense since taking over for the Texas Bowl in 2017. However, in the losses to TCU and Iowa State, the Texas offense looked ineffective and managed just 31 points total in the two contests.
Meekins served as a wide receivers coach and played a big role recruiting for the Longhorns, with his deep connections in the Texas high school coaching ranks as the former Houston Westfield head coach from 2004 to 2014. Meekins also held a position on the Texas High School Coaches Association Board of Directors from 2009-12. After coaching tight ends during his first season with the Longhorns, he joined Mehringer as a wide receivers coach in 2018.
Mehringer had a long history with Herman dating back to his days as a student assistant at Rice. When Herman became the offensive coordinator at Iowa State, Mehringer joined him as a graduate assistant before following him to Ohio State. After a season as the co-offensive coordinator at James Madison in 2014, Herman hired Mehringer as his recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach at Houston.
For the last three years, Mehringer has been the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Longhorns, but things apparently went sour this season behind the scenes.
From what I can gather, if WR coach Drew Mehringer had remained on the Texas staff as of 9 a.m. Monday, there would've been a serious internal revolt.
— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) December 1, 2019
Guess that counts as something like alignment.
The top candidates to replace Beck as the offensive coordinator — and presumably take over play-calling duties from Herman — include some of the top names in college football.
According to my sources, the top two candidates to replace offensive coordinator Tim Beck at Texas are USC's Graham Harrell and LSU's Joe Brady.
— Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) December 1, 2019
With reports of Clay Helton’s tenure at USC ending on Sunday, Harrell could officially be on the market quickly, while hiring Brady is a more difficult proposition with LSU intent on giving him a significant raise and contract extension.