At his introductory press conference on Wednesday, new North Texas head coach Eric Morris said he intends to hire at least one more coach with prior Texas high school football experience and that he planned to hire a special teams coordinator. He could have both in one hire.
Sources told FootballScoop on Thursday that Drew Svoboda is expected to join the staff as associate head coach and special teams coordinator.
Svoboda is currently in his second season at Alabama. He joined the staff in 2021 as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach, and in 2022 transitioned to senior special assistant to the head coach. He is expected to remain with the Crimson Tide through the Sugar Bowl.
Svoboda broke into the college ranks at Rice from 2018-20. In 2019 he took over special teams and his units regularly ranked among the top 20 nationally according to various special teams metrics and produced a collection of all-conference players.
Prior to Rice, Svoboda was the head coach at Klein Collins High School, near Houston. He went 93-24 in 10 seasons and served as president of the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association and sat on the board of the Texas High School Coaches Association.
Morris has already hired former Lancaster High School head coach Chris Gilbert as assistant head coach and tight ends coach; Gilbert was previously the director of high school relations at Texas.
Morris is also in discussions with at least one additional Texas high school head coach about joining the Mean Green staff, sources tell FootballScoop.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.