With three spots open on his Texas A&M coaching staff, Kevin Sumlin has officially filled two of those -- with a third on its way to becoming official as well.
The two confirmed additions are Jake Spavital and Jeff Banks, the school announced Thursday. The former will serve as co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach as previously reported, the latter as special teams coordinator/tight ends coach.
Spavital comes to the Aggies after spending the past two seasons as Dana Holgorsen‘s quarterbacks coach at West Virginia. Holgorsen was Sumlin’s offensive coordinator at Houston in 2008-09, with Spavital serving on the same staff.
Kliff Kingsbury, who left his College Station post for the head coaching job at Texas Tech, had previously held the coordinator title as well as the quarterback duties.
“I know I have some big shoes to fill,” Spavital said. “I’m excited to be here, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of keeping this offense moving in the right direction. It’s been a smooth transition for me so far. I was with Clarence (McKinney) and B.J. (Anderson) when they were putting in the offense (at Houston) and I know Coach (David) Beatty from when he was at Rice, so I’m familiar with the staff.”
Banks will also be replacing a Sumlin assistant who was hired as a head coach this offseason; earlier this month, Brian Polian was tabbed as the successor to the legendary Chris Ault at Nevada.
Banks comes to the Aggies by way of UTEP and a (very) brief pit stop in Charlottesville. Jan. 3, Virginia announced that Banks had been hired as Mike London‘s running backs coach/special teams coordinator. Exactly a week later, UVa. announced that Banks had left to “to pursue another coaching position.”
Obviously, “another” involved a move from the ACC to the SEC for Banks.
“Texas A&M is one of the premier coaching stops in college football with Coach Sumlin and the SEC, which is the nation’s best conference,” Banks said. “Coach Polian did a great job with the special teams last year, and my goal will be to try to be even better.”
With that, the lone hole in Sumlin’s 2013 staff is at linebackers as Matt Wallerstedt followed Kingsbury to the Red Raiders as defensive coordinator.
While the school has yet to announce a hiring for that vacancy, Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson confirmed Thursday that Hoosiers defensive tackles coach Mark Hagen has accepted a job at A&M.
(Photo credit: West Virginia athletics)