The ex-offensive coordinator for the Mountaineers brings strong game-planning skills and a proven record as an effective recruiter.
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has replaced running backs coach Tashard Choice by bringing in Chad Scott, the running backs coach from West Virginia Mountaineers, to serve in the same role at the Forty Acres.
Interest in Scott was first noted earlier on Wednesday by Matt Zenitz of 247Sports, and within a few hours multiple outlets confirmed that the Longhorns were poised to hire him. Chip Brown of Horns247 mentioned that the team received word of the news around 7:30 p.m. Central.
A Florida native, Scott played his college football at Kentucky and North Carolina before enjoying NFL stints with the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. Once his playing days concluded, he returned to Chapel Hill as a graduate assistant video analyst and then took on the role of running backs coach at Troy. His career also includes stops at Texas Tech and Kentucky, as well as a four-year period coaching tight ends at North Carolina. In 2019, he was hired by West Virginia as co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach, spending two seasons calling plays under Neal Brown in 2023 and 2024. Following Brown’s dismissal and Rich Rodriguez’s return to Morgantown, Scott was retained on the staff.
At Troy, working alongside longtime head coach Larry Blakeney, Scott was instrumental in leading the Trojans to three consecutive Sun Belt Conference titles and two New Orleans Bowl appearances.
His three-year tenure at Texas Tech under Tommy Tuberville from 2010 to 2012 helped him establish connections in the state by recruiting top-tier talent. In the 2011 recruiting class, he secured consensus four-star running backs Kenny Williams (Pflugerville Hendrickson), DeAndre Washington (Fort Bend Marshall), and Bradley Marquez (Odessa). Washington went on to be selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft and spent five seasons in the league.
While with the Red Raiders, the primary running backs averaged 5.0 yards per carry, contributing to a total of 52 rushing touchdowns during his three seasons there.
At West Virginia, the 2020 Mountaineers’ offense was the nation’s most improved in yards per game, with the rushing attack adding more than an extra 60 yards per game. This period also marked the beginning of two consecutive seasons in which running back Leddie Brown surpassed 1,000 rushing yards and led the team with 14 touchdowns.
A robust group of running backs averaged 171.5 yards per game as freshman CJ Donaldson had his breakout season. Although recruiting services originally evaluated him as a tight end prospect and barely placed him within the top 1,000 recruits in the 247Sports Composite rankings, Scott’s strong evaluation—and his Florida connections—secured the 6’2”, 238-pound player.
In the two seasons Scott served as West Virginia’s offensive coordinator, the Mountaineers’ rushing attack excelled. In 2023, the team amassed 2,976 rushing yards—ranking first among Power Five schools—and the following season, they ranked ninth among Power Four programs.
Despite his smaller stature at 5’7”, running back Jaheim White led West Virginia in rushing yards in both seasons. Scott’s keen evaluation picked up on White’s potential even though he only received offers from Bowling Green and Old Dominion out of York, Penn. White’s lack of size hasn’t hindered his performance; over his first two seasons, he rushed for 1,687 yards and 11 touchdowns on an average of 6.5 yards per carry.
In 2024, Donaldson led the team with 11 rushing touchdowns. Additionally, White’s strong Florida ties enable him to serve as a primary recruiter for other positions—a valuable asset given Texas’s upcoming move to the SEC and the recruiting influence that Choice had in Georgia during the 2024 cycle.
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