This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Make it eight offensive coordinators in eight years.
Two days after No. 22 Utah lost defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake and defensive line coach Ilaisa Tuiaki to Oregon State, sources told The Salt Lake Tribune on Christmas that offensive coordinator Dave Christensen will leave the U. to accept a multiyear deal at Texas A&M.
FootballScoop.com reports that Christensen will become the Aggies' offensive line coach and run game coordinator. Details of the agreement were not known.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham declined comment. Attempts to reach Christensen on Thursday night were unsuccessful.
Christensen coached with Whittingham at Idaho State in 1990 and 1991 and formed a lasting friendship. There was no public indication of tension between the two.
Texas A&M had the 11th-highest-paid assistant coaching staff, at $3,484,050, according to a USA Today database, while Utah's was 39th, at $2,420,000. Christensen made $500,000 per year at the U. His contract was due up in January 2016.
Sources told The Tribune that in Sitake's case, Utah athletic director Chris Hill made multiple contract extension offers that Sitake felt fell short of Oregon State's.
Christensen's departure comes just a year and change after he was hired to replace Brian Johnson, who shared coordinator duties with current running backs coach Dennis Erickson before leaving for Mississippi State.
In 2015, the Utes will have had a different offensive coordinator than the previous season for an eighth straight time: Dave Schramm succeeded Andy Ludwig after Utah's Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama in 2009 (and went 54th in total offense), followed by Aaron Roderick and Schramm in 2010 (52nd), Norm Chow in 2011 (109th), Johnson in 2012 (108th), Johnson and Erickson in 2013 (76th), and Christensen in 2014 (74th).
Roderick, like Erickson, is still on Utah's staff, as quarterbacks coach.
Christensen was fired after five years as Wyoming's head coach, and is most known for his work as Missouri's offensive coordinator from 2001 to 2008, when the Tigers regularly ranked among the nation's most high-powered offenses.
Utah's offense was lackluster for the bulk of conference play but finished strong, with 439 total yards against Colorado and 548 total yards in a 45-10 drubbing of Colorado State in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Junior Oklahoma transfer quarterback Kendal Thompson chose the U. in large part because of his familiarity with Christensen's scheme, and sophomore Wyoming transfer Jason Thompson followed Christensen from Laramie.
Christensen also brought with him Utah offensive line coach Jim Harding, who declined comment Thursday.
The news was first reported by 1280 The Zone's Hans Olsen. Asked about Olsen's report, Erickson expressed surprise and did not comment further.
Twitter: @matthew_piper