The former offensive coordinator for the Mountaineers has game-planning experience and a track record as a solid recruiter.
The Texas Longhorns have found their replacement for running backs coach Tashard Choice with head coach Steve Sarkisian hiring West Virginia Mountaineers running backs coach Chad Scott for the same role on the Forty Acres.
Interest in Scott was first reported earlier on Wednesday by Matt Zenitz of 247Sports and the expectation that the Longhorns would hire Scott broke several hours later with near-simultaneous reports from a number of outlets. Chip Brown of Horns247 reported that the team was informed of the news around 7:30 p.m. Central.
A Florida native, Scott played at Kentucky and North Carolina before stints in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. After his playing career ended, Scott returned to Chapel Hill to serve as a graduate assistant video analyst before taking over as the running backs coach at Troy. Scott also had stints at Texas Tech and Kentucky before coaching the tight ends at North Carolina for four years. In 2019, Scott was hired as the co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach at West Virginia, where he spent two seasons calling plays for Neal Brown in 2023 and 2024. When Brown was fired and Rich Rodriguez returned to Morgantown, he retained Scott on his staff.
Working with longtime head coach Larry Blakeney at Troy, Scott helped the Trojans win three straight Sun Belt Conference championships and two appearances in the New Orleans Bowl.
The three years at Texas Tech under Tommy Tuberville from 2010 to 2012 helped Scott build some ties to the state, landing consensus four-star running backs Kenny Williams out of Pflugerville Hendrickson, DeAndre Washington out of Fort Bend Marshall, and Bradley Marquez out of Odessa in the 2011 recruiting class. Washington eventually developed into a fifth-round draft pick and spent five seasons in the NFL.
During Scott’s time with the Red Raiders, the primary running backs averaged 5.0 yards per attempt as Tech ran for 52 touchdowns in his three seasons.
At West Virginia, the 2020 Mountaineers offense was the nation’s most improved in yards per game as the rushing attack gained more than 60 more yards per game. It was also the first of two straight seasons that running back Leddie Brown gained more than 1,000 yards on the ground and scored a team-high 14 touchdowns.
A deep stable of running backs produced 171.5 yards per game as freshman CJ Donaldson emerged had a breakout season. Considered a tight end prospect by the recruiting services, Donaldson was barely ranked inside the top 1,000 recruits nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings, but Scott made a strong evaluation and used his Florida ties to land the 6’2, 238-pounder.
During the two seasons that Scott was the offensive coordinator for the Mountaineers, the ground game for West Virginia performed at a high level — in 2023, the 2,976 rushing yards ranked No. 1 among Power Five schools, and the following season, the ‘Eers ranked ninth in rushing yards among Power Four schools.
Diminutive running back Jaheim White led West Virginia in rushing yards both seasons. Another strong evaluation by Scott, the 5’7 White only held offers from Bowling Green and Old Dominion out of York, Penn. But White’s lack of size hasn’t impacted his production with 1,687 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 6.5 yards per carry over his first two seasons.
Donaldson led the team with 11 rushing touchdowns in 2024.
White also has deep enough ties to Florida to serve as the primary recruiter at other positions, important ties considering the move to the SEC for Texas and the impact that Choice had as a recruiter in Georgia during the 2024 cycle.