The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach (Offense)/Running Backs
A former collegiate standout and NFL running back who is in his eighth year of coaching, Tashard Choice was hired as running backs coach at Texas in December 2021. 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.
Texas had one of the most productive running back rooms in the nation in 2023, highlighted by the performance of Jonathon Brooks, who rushed for 1,139 yards and 10 touchdowns in 10 games before an injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season. True freshman CJ Baxter rushed for 659 yards and five touchdowns in his first season on the Forty Acres, while second-year sophomore Jaydon Blue rushed 65 times for 398 yards (6.1 ypc) and three touchdowns.
In 2022, Texas had one of the best running back rooms in the nation and one of the finest in program history. Bijan Robinson won the Doak Walker Award and earned unanimous All-American accolades after rushing for 1,580 yards and 18 touchdowns, both the sixth-most in the nation, while averaging 175.83 all-purpose yards per game, the fifth-best average in the NCAA. Roschon Johnson added 554 yard and five rushing scores. It marked the seventh time Texas had a duo rush for 1,000+ and 500+ yards in a season and the combined 2,134 rushing yards were the second most for a Texas duo in program history. Robinson finished the year with seven games of 100-plus rushing yards, including a pair of 200 yards games. Against Kansas State, Robinson rushed for 243 yards and Jonathon Brooks for 108 yards, the third game all-time in which Longhorn backfield featured a 200-yard and 100-yard rusher.
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.
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.
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, and they have one daughter, Nyla Rose.
