Texas Hires Arizona DC Johnny Nansen to Coaching Staff
While Arizona is fresh off of an impressive bowl victory over Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners, the Wildcats coaching staff is losing one of its key members ahead of the move to the Big 12.
According to a report from 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz, Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen is on the move to Austin as the Texas Longhorns plan to add Nansen to the defensive coaching staff as the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
Texas was on the hunt for an addition to coaching staff in 2024 after Steve Sarkisian’s current co-defensive coordinator, Jeff Choate, accepted the head coaching job at Nevada on December 3rd.
Nansen stepped in as the perfect candidate to fill the vacancy at Texas as Nansen worked for Steve Sarkisian as an assistant at both Washington and USC.
“The hire makes sense because Johnny and Sarkisian have history together and so do Johnny and PK (Kwiatkowski),” one source told 247’s Chip Brown.
Nansen’s defense was one of the top units in the Pac-12 Conference last season as his group finished fourth in passing yards allowed (229.6), fifth in rushing yards allowed (111.7), fifth in total yards per game (341.3), and fourth in points allowed (20.8).
Arizona will now be on the lookout for a new defensive coordinator for the upcoming season, as the Wildcats get set to enter the Big 12 Conference in 2024.
