Longhorns Country

How Former Longhorn and UTSA Coach Jeff Traylor Built His Legacy

A familiar face in the Texas coaching world will return to Austin in week 3

Michael Gresser

Jeff Traylor is a rising star in college football. After just two seasons as the head coach of the UTSA Roadrunners, Traylor is already a national name in the coaching ranks. Those who know Traylor may not know how he got to UTSA and why he is so highly respected.

Make sure to stick with LonghornsCountry.com through our season preview series, where we will analyze every opponent on the Longhorns schedule in 2022. We've already looked at the UTSA matchup as a whole, as well as offensive players and defensive players to watch.

Traylor built his legacy coaching Texas high school football. He began his career at Big Sandy High School (Big Sandy, TX) where he was an assistant for four years. He moved to Jacksonville High School (Jacksonville, TX) where he served as the passing coordinator, defensive backs coach, receivers coach, and special teams coordinator for seven years. 

His success as an assistant landed him the head coach job at Gilmer High School (Gilmer, TX). In 15 years at Gilmer, Traylor won three 4A state titles and 12 district crowns. At that time, he was named the Texas High School Coach of the Year for Class 4A four times.

Traylor clearly established himself as one of the greatest coaches in Texas high school football history but eventually moved on to bigger and better things. Traylor had his eyes set on the college level after a lengthy stint at the high school level. 

He began his college coaching career at the University of Texas. In 2015 he was the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator under Charlie Strong. In 2016 he became the wide receivers coach. In back-to-back years at Texas, he was named the Big 12 Recruiter of the Year.

Traylor was the running backs coach for a year at SMU and two years at Arkansas before he landed himself the head coach job at UTSA.

In his first season as the head coach of UTSA, Traylor went 7-5. This was the best season the Roadrunners have had since 2013.

When it was rumored Texas would be moving on from Tom Herman as their head coach, many Texas fans wanted Traylor to be the next man up if Urban Meyer fell through.

In his second season, he led the Roadrunners to a 12-2 finish and a victory over Western Kentucky in the Conference-USA Championship.

Traylor’s name was on the national radar again for prestigious head coaching positions this offseason. However, he affirmed his loyalty to the Roadrunners once he signed a 10-year contract extension. 

Traylor enters his third season at UTSA with sky-high expectations. Anything less than another C-USA championship would be a disappointment in his eyes. Traylor always puts a quality product on the football field no matter what talent he has on his roster.

He will have the opportunity to get a statement victory against his former team when UTSA travels to Austin in week 3.

You can follow Michael Gresser on Twitter @gresser_michael

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Michael Gresser
MICHAEL GRESSER

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