Greetings
Numerous outlets, including Rivals.com and GopherIllustrated.com, are reporting on their sites that Jeff Horton, who spent the 2009 season coaching quarterbacks in Detroit under offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, will be Gophers coach Tim Brewster's new offensive coordinator.
I am still working to get official confirmation.
Horton was interviewed for the job last season, when he was coming off a stint as an assistant coach under Linehan with the St. Louis Rams.
Horton would appear to be a candidate with a lot of experience and the good possibility that he could provide the continuity Brewster has been looking for in his coordinators.
A 1981 graduate from Nevada, Horton's first coaching job was as a graduate assistant with the Gophers in 1984. His long resume includes head coaching stints at both Nevada and UNLV. He has mixed success as a college head coach, but he did oversee some pretty productive offenses in that time.
Horton then moved on to become quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin from 1999-2005, where he mentored the likes of Jim Sorgi, Brooks Bollinger and John Stocco. His time at Wisconsin overlapped with several coaches who are now Gophers assistants, including defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove, co-defensive coordinator Ronnie Lee, offensive line coach/running game coordinator Tim Davis and running backs coach Thomas Hammock.
Clearly, Horton has plenty of experience in offenses that both open things up and also in offenses, like Wisconsin's, that like to feature more of a power running game.
