Florida State Hires New Offensive Line Coach Away From UCF

The Seminoles are hiring one of the top offensive line coaches in the country.

Herb Hand/Twitter

Florida State will be hiring an offensive line coach who has worked directly with head coach Mike Norvell and new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

UCF offensive line coach Herb Hand is following Malzahn to Tallahassee, first reported by 247Sports. Hand is a veteran at the college level with 35 years of experience under his belt. He's been working in the FBS since 1999, including the last four years with the Knights. Hand has coached the offensive line at six programs over the last 18 years.

Hand was the offensive line coach from Tulsa in 2007-09 when Norvell worked his way from graduate assistant to wide receivers coach. Malzahn was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the program during Hand's first two seasons on the job. Following stints at Vanderbilt and Penn State, Hand reunited with Malzahn at Auburn in 2016. After two years at Auburn, he had a brief tenure at Texas before linking up with Malzahn once again at UCF.

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The 56-year-old has established himself as one of the top offensive line coaches in the country. The Knights averaged 225+ rushing yards per game during his final three years with the program, including 248.1 yards per game in 2024 (No. 7 in FBS). He produced seven all-conference selections at UCF and had offensive tackle Tylan Grable selected in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

In 2017, Hand's offensive line at Auburn was one of three finalists for the Joe Moore Award, which is presented to the top offensive line in the country. UCF's offensive line was recognized on the Joe Moore Award midseason honor roll in 2023. Hand was the run game coordinator at Penn State during two of NFL star Saquon Barkley's three years with the Nittany Lions.

Hand is credited with landing 21 blue-chip prospects throughout his coaching career. That includes five-star offensive lineman Calvin Ashley in 2016. He was the primary recruiter for 14 of those players.

The New York native reportedly made $500,000 this season at UCF. The Seminoles paid former offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins $1.25 million in 2024. Atkins was fired by Florida State in November prior to the conclusion of his fifth season in Tallahassee.

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