The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Football hires Tashard Choice as assistant coach
12.18.2021 | Football
Former standout college running back, NFL vet and now a highly-regarded coach, Choice will coach the Longhorns running backs.
AUSTIN, Texas — A former collegiate standout and NFL running back who is in his eighth year of coaching, Tashard Choice has been hired as running backs coach at Texas. Choice spent significant time during his career in the state of Texas, first as an NFL player, then volunteering time with Waxahachie High School's football program, followed by serving as a coaching intern with the Dallas Cowboys and as an assistant coach at North Texas. He replaces Stan Drayton who took over as head coach at Temple earlier this week.
"We're thrilled to have Tashard joining our staff," said head coach Steve Sarkisian. "He's a high energy guy who brings a ton of passion and expertise to the job. Tashard absolutely checks all the boxes as a tremendous on-field coach, outstanding recruiter and as a guy that will be a great mentor and leader of men in our program. Not only has he done it at the highest level as a player, he's put in the work as a coach and is really highly-regarded at that, too. The more I talked to him, the more I learned how deeply he cares about Texas, and his experience, knowledge and love for our great state is invaluable. I'm so excited to have him on board, looking forward to getting him started and fired up that he's a part of our Longhorn family."
As a player, Choice was a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference rushing champion at Georgia Tech in 2006 and 2007, who went on to play six seasons in the NFL. A first-team All-ACC and honorable mention All-American performer in 2007, he was a member of the Dallas Cowboys from 2008-11 and also spent time professionally with Washington (2011), Buffalo (2011-13) and Indianapolis (2013) before transitioning into coaching.
"I am so excited and ready to go," Choice said. "It was an easy decision for the simple fact that I get to be back in the state of Texas and working under Coach Sark and his great staff. You want to coach with good guys, and he has that, and then you look at the players in that backfield, that makes for a great situation. I've enjoyed watching those guys from afar and am really looking forward to coaching them every day. I knew it was going to be a great opportunity, and the more I talked to Coach Sark about it, it just felt right in every way.
"I have such a great appreciation for the pride and rich tradition of The University of Texas, it's everything that you could ever want to be a part of. I couldn't ask for anything more, and I'm so happy to be a Longhorn."
Choice spent the past three seasons as running backs coach at his alma mater. During his time back at Georgia Tech, he coached a freshman All-American (Jahmyr Gibbs – 2020) and two ACC all-conference honorees (Gibbs – 2020 & 2021; Jordan Mason – 2019). In his role as offensive recruiting coordinator, he was instrumental in putting together consecutive highly-ranked recruiting classes, including only the second top-25 class in Yellow Jackets history in 2020.
Prior to Georgia Tech, he served as an offensive quality control assistant at North Texas in 2017 and was promoted to running backs coach for the Mean Green 2018. He was one of six finalists for FootballScoop's Running Backs Coach of the Year award that year.
In his two seasons on the UNT staff, the Mean Green posted back-to-back nine-win seasons for the first time since the program joined the NCAA Division I FBS ranks in 1995.
Under Choice's tutelage as running backs coach in 2018, UNT sophomore running back Deandre Torrey amassed 1,182 yards from scrimmage (977 rushing, 205 receiving) and scored 17 touchdowns en route to being named second-team All-Conference USA. Making Torrey's development even more impressive is the fact that he didn't enter the starting lineup until nearly midway through the season, as junior Loren Easly was C-USA's leading rusher with 386 yards in four games before he sustained a season-ending injury.
Choice also assisted with the UNT's running backs in his quality-control role in 2017 and played a part in all of the Mean Green's running backs averaging at least five yards per carry, led by second-team All-C-USA selection Jeffrey Wilson (1,215 yards and 16 touchdowns in just 11 games, good for the nation's second-highest yards-per-game average – 110.5 ypg).
Before UNT, he got his full-time coaching career started as an intern with the Dallas Cowboys in 2016. While working with the Cowboys, the Thomasville, Ga. native helped spur running back Ezekiel Elliott to one of the best rookie campaigns in NFL history.
In his first full year after playing, he volunteered time working with the Waxahachie High School football program.
During his six-year NFL career, Choice played in 88 games, totaling more than 2,000 yards (1,579 rushing, 574 receiving and 89 on kick returns) and scoring 10 touchdowns.
At Georgia Tech, he led the ACC in rushing as a junior in 2006 (1,473 yards) and a senior in 2007 (1,379 yards). He is the only Yellow Jacket to ever lead the ACC in rushing twice and is one of only three Jackets to ever post two 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
One of the most decorated running backs in Georgia Tech history, Choice was a Yellow Jacket from 2005-07 after transferring from Oklahoma. In just three seasons on The Flats, he ran for 3,365 yards and scored 28 touchdowns, which rank fourth and sixth in Georgia Tech history, respectively. A first-team All-ACC honoree as a senior and a second-team selection as a junior, Choice was also recognized as an honorable-mention All-American as a senior in 2007. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in October 2021.
A two-time member of the ACC academic honor roll, Choice graduated from Tech in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in history, technology and society.
He married his wife, Rebecca, in February 2019.