Who will Texas Football hire at running backs coach? The Hot Board
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On Tuesday, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian fired running backs coach Chad Scott. Scott lasted just one season and oversaw the worst ground game since World War II. Now, the hunt is on for a replacement. Who will UT hire?
The Texas running game was historically bad this year. The Longhorns averaged just 129.7 yards rushing per game, the program’s worst rushing performance in 81 years, since 1944.
The Longhorns’ leading rusher in 2025 was Tre Wisner with 597 yards. The next closest running back was CJ Baxter with 196 yards followed by Jerrick Gibson with 152. Baxter and Gibson are both in the transfer portal.
Who will Texas hire? Here are some candidates:
Former Florida RB coach Jabbar Juluke
The top name on the board is Jabbar Juluke. The New Orleans native spent the last eight seasons working for Billy Napier at Louisiana and Florida. Before that, he worked for Les Miles at LSU and Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech.
Juluke is a strong recruiting and led the effort to bring Trevor Etienne to Gainesville. He has deep ties in the state of Louisiana and recruits the Bayou State hard. He also has a lot of experience in the SEC and recruiting the SEC.
He has been linked to the Kentucky job, but it’s been reported he’s being considered on the 40 Acres as well.
Sources tell @CBSSports that Jabbar Juluke is also now among the possibilities for the running backs coach opening at Texas, which parted ways with Chad Scott today.
Juluke was Florida’s running backs coach and associate head coach the last four years. https://t.co/CmN27Kk8Wopic.twitter.com/7W8B6GWxdz
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 9, 2025
Georgia Tech RB coach Norval McKenzie
The Vanderbilt graduate started as the running backs coach at Furman in 2011. He’s had stints at Arkansas State, Louisville, Vandy and is currently at Georgia Tech.
McKenzie helped the Rambling Wreck become the No. 1 rushing team in the ACC in 2023 and No. 2 in 2024 and 2025. Tech rushed for 2,400 yards in all three seasons and scored 83 touchdowns.
The Yellow Jackets assistant was also key in the emergence of running back Jamal Haynes, who has averaged over 200 yards a game in two of their three seasons.
LSU RB/Interim Head Coach Frank Wilson
Wilson got his start at Nicholls State in the 1990s, before heading to Ole Miss in 2005. Under Ed Oregon, he helped Benjarus Green-Ellis rush for 1,000 yards in 2006 and 2007. After stints at Southern Miss and Tennessee, Wilson moved to LSU.
In Baton Rouge, Wilson coached a slew of productive running backs at LSU, most notably Leonard Fournette. Wilson then tried his hand at head coaching at both UTSA and McNeese State. He then returned to LSU under Brian Kelly in 2022.
Nebraska RB coach E.J. Barthel
Barthel has a big connection to the Texas staff. He was part of the recruiting and football operations staff at Rutgers under now Texas offensive line coach Kyle Flood. He later became recruiting coordinator for Penn State.
His coaching career got going at Albany. He then had stints at Howard and Williams and Mary before joining current Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule’s staff with the Carolina Panthers in 2020. After Rhule and the Panthers parted ways, Barthen went to UConn and helped the Huskies rank 33rd in the nation in rushing.
Rhule hired Barthel again after the 2023 season and has helped the Cornhuskers move from No. 10 to No. 2 in Big Ten rushing.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Texas Football Running Backs Coach Hot Board
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