The Horns hired some help for Jeff Banks after a poor season on special teams.
According to Joe Cook of Inside Texas, the Texas Longhorns have hired former James Madison Dukes assistant special teams coach Matt Moran following the recent departure of special teams analyst Jeff Crosby to become the special teams coordinator for the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
The addition comes after the Texas special teams coordinated by Jeff Banks ranked No. 117 nationally in ESPN’s SP+ rankings, a precipitous drop from No. 17 in 2023 caused by a variety of issues, including inconsistent performances at place kicker and punter and 17 total penalties committed on special teams.
Moran coached the specialists in his one season at James Madison after serving as a special teams analyst and specialists coach at Boston College, improving the team’s field-goal percentage from 57 percent to 83 percent.
Prior to Boston College, Moran spent eight seasons at Stanford starting as a special teams graduate assistant before receiving a promotion to assistant special teams coordinator, coaching future NFL All-Pro punter Jake Bailey and LA Rams kicker Joshua Karty, a sixth-round draft pick last season.
A graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine, Moran was a wide receiver, free safety, return man, and occasional quarterback. His first coaching job was at Albright College in Pennsylvania as running backs coach and special teams coordinator in 2013 and 2014, then spent a season at Rutgers as a defensive quality control assistant.