the answer seems to be "we swung big and missed on all of our tier 1 targets (henderson, wright, etc) and ended up hiring a guy that we liked, and maybe had as a tier 2 hire who was also get-able"
no one, and i mean NO one has any idea who or what this guy is.
i spent a ton of time looking for articles about him at prior jobs and they are basically zilch - even at places like fan blogs and twitter.
the guy is a total and complete unknown to basically everyone who writes about the program, everyone who covers the program, national CFB writers, NFL dudes, scouting dudes, etc.
it's the position coach Texas has hired with the least written about him in the last decade and change and it's not even close.
he may absolutely kill it - and obviously we all hope he does - but he may also get fired before the spring term ends.
we're 3 weeks in and we still don't know shit about his salary, which would be a huge giveaway on what the team thinks about him. for comparison last year Milwee made $425k base, Gideon made $475k base and Chris Jackson made $550k base. if he makes $425k he would have been the #30 highest paid DL coach in the country
Texas hired Baker somewhere around 2/1 and as of last Wed (2/14) Gerry said he had spent 4 days on the road recruiting.
at this point the only thing that makes sense is they swung and missed on a TON of people due to timing, and ended up with a guy they could actually hire who was a good bit further down their list. his coaching profile doesn't match up with anyone Sark has hired at Texas historically or the process they have followed with his position coach hires.
it's wild as hell we are almost 3 weeks in and the only comments we have about the guy are basically all sourced stuff or Sark saying that everyone they talked to (generic) raved about him
if he worked closely with Pete Jenkins (he didn't) wouldn't you at least be able to get the retired 80 something year old on the record saying *ANYTHING* about the guy?