Texas Football: Longhorns Officially Hire Former OU Staffer Jay Boulware

Boulware will join the Longhorns staff as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator

Texas is welcoming former Longhorn player and graduate assistant Jay Boulware back to the Forty Acres.

Speculation ran wild on Friday the now-former Oklahoma running backs coach would join the Texas staff, the Longhorns program made it official on Saturday morning. 

“Jay is a proven, accomplished coach and special teams coordinator who as a former Longhorn and Texas native, has deep roots in our state,” Texas head coach Tom Herman said. “He also has extensive experience coaching in the Big 12, having spent a decade in our league, and has worked with teams that have competed at the highest level, including a National Championship team at Auburn in 2010. Jay’s a coach I’ve been aware of for a long time, is very well-respected in coaching circles and certainly knows the recruiting landscape in our state very well. We all were really impressed in our visits with him, know he’ll do a great job building relationships and developing our players, and we’re extremely excited to be bringing him back home to Texas.”

Some rumors had swirled earlier in the week that former Kansas State assistant Sean Snyder might be a candidate, but Texas eventually chose to raid their rivals' staff over bringing in the son of legendary Wildcats coach Bill Snyder. 

Boulware will handle special teams and tight ends, both areas of need for the Longhorns in 2019. The tight end position in particular, as production from the position all but disappeared in 2019 after Cade Brewer went down with an injury. 

Boulware played for the Longhorns from 1991-92 and was scheduled to become a starter prior to the 1993 season before a heart arrhythmia ended his playing career. He would go on to become a student coach that season and a graduate assistant from 1994-96 at Texas, serving on the staff that won the first-ever Big 12 Championship. 

Even though he has spent the last six years north of the Red River, Boulware's heart has always been in Austin. 

“I’ve been watching this program from afar since the day I left there in the spring of 1997, and I’ve always had it in my mind that I would like to come back someday and help Texas win a National Championship,” Boulware said. “I love everything about The University of Texas, and I’m looking forward to working closely with Coach Herman, with our special teams, and obviously coaching our tight ends to put together a product on the field that’s the best in the country. I couldn’t be more excited, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Over the last five years, Boulware has guided six 1,000-yard rushers, and five of his running backs during that time have earned first or second-team All-Big 12 honors with three having been NFL Draft picks since 2017.

He has also helped Oklahoma produce 10 special teams touchdowns. 

Boulware is also known as a great recruiter, particularly in the state of Texas. After spending the better part of the last decade luring Lone Star talent out of state, he looks forward to helping keep them on this side of the Red River. 

“I’ve been so fortunate to coach a lot of great players, and I definitely am grateful for all of them because that’s why I’ve been a part of teams that have had so much success,” Boulware said. “Recruiting is a big part of that. I grew up playing Texas high school football, and I understand the importance of football in the state and the players in the state. I know that’s a high priority for Coach Herman and the staff, and they’ve had a lot of success with the last couple of recruiting classes. Putting a rope around this big state that we have and keeping the top players in this state is so important to compete at a national level, and I’m really looking forward to helping us do that.”

After massive staff changes including both coordinators in the offseason, Texas appears to be closing in on finishing things up on the offensive side of the ball in time to make one last push in recruiting. 

Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich will oversee quarterbacks, Stand Drayton will and Herb Hand will stay at running backs and offensive line coach, respectively, Andre Coleman is set to take over as receivers coach and Boulware will coach tight ends.