Kansas assistant Jerrance Howard leaves for Texas

The coaching staff for new Texas Longhorns head coach Chris Beard continues to come together with longtime Kansas Jayhawks assistant Jerrance Howard leaving Lawrence for Austin, Kansas head coach Bill Self announced on Tuesday.

“I want to thank Jerrance for all of his hard work and dedication to Kansas men’s basketball over the past eight years,” Self said in a statement released by the school. “I was fortunate to coach him at Illinois and loved the opportunity we had to coach together here at KU. He has been a member of our great staff and instrumental in the development of many players over his eight seasons. I would like to express my appreciation to Jerrance, his wife Jessica, as well as JJ and Jaya. We certainly wish them all the best.”

Howard, who played college basketball for Self at Illinois, spent three years as an assistant in Urbana-Champaign, then served as an assistant at SMU for one season before joining Self in Lawrence in 2013.

“Working for Coach Self and being a part of Kansas basketball has been a true privilege that I will always be grateful for,” Howard said. “ As I look forward to my next career opportunity, I thank God for the amazing players, staff, and community I have been blessed to know during my eight seasons at KU.”

Like Ulric Maligi and Rodney Terry, Howard is known as a high-level recruiter — in fact, he’s now arguably the most successful recruiter on Beard’s staff, responsible for landing five-star prospects Quentin Grimes and Cliff Alexander, as well as Marcus Garrett, Jalen Wilson, and David McCormack.

Since Beard has already made four hires and only three assistant coaches can go on the road recruiting, one of the assistants will not be able to serve in that role, possibly former Texas player and former UT-Arlington head coach Chris Ogden.