Texas RB coach Tashard Choice to interview with the Dallas Cowboys

Known as a rising star in the coaching world, Choice was drafted by the Cowboys and spent parts of four seasons in Dallas.

The spinning NFL coaching carousel could impact the Texas Longhorns this offseason with reports surfacing on Saturday morning that running backs coach Tashard Choice is going to interview with the Dallas Cowboys following the hires of Brian Schottenheimer as head coach and Klayton Adams as offensive coordinator, according to a report from Clarence Hill of AllDlls.com and confirmed by other outlets.

It’s a potentially significant development for Texas because the 40-year-old Choice, who is from Georgia, played at Georgia Tech, and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft, is considered one of the rising stars in the coaching world.

Even Choice’s coaching career has ties to the Cowboys in addition to playing for Dallas for three-plus seasons — the Atlanta-area native got into coaching as an intern for the Cowboys in 2016 before a year as a graduate assistant at North Texas landed his first assistant role for the Mean Green. After three seasons at his alma mater, Choice briefly joined Lincoln Riley’s staff at USC before changing course and replacing Stan Drayton at Texas instead.

Choice had already drawn attention for his ability to land top-100 prospect Jahmyr Gibbs over national powerhouses. Gibbs went on to become the second running back selected in the 2023 NFL Draft behind Bijan Robinson.

The extent to which Choice was responsible for developing Robinson and fellow running back Roschon Johnson in his first season on the Forty Acres is questionable, but his ability to turn Jonathon Brooks from the third-string running back into RB1 in the 2024 NFL Draft was impressive. Brooks wasn’t the only running back from Texas drafted last year, either — Keilan Robinson was a surprise fifth-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars after playing an all-purpose role for the Horns.

In 2024, the unexpected rise of sophomore Quintrevion Wisner helped buoy a running game that struggled at times with injuries and inconsistency, helping head coach Steve Sarkisian maintain his streak of 1,000-yard rushers. And despite battling an ankle injury, junior Jaydon Blue was able to declare early for the NFL Draft and is set to become the fifth Longhorns running back selected in the last three drafts.

While the evidence of Choice’s ability to develop talent continued to burgeon, his work on the recruiting trail allowed Texas to build one of the nation’s best running back rooms by landing the No. 1 back in the 2023 class, CJ Baxter, and four consensus four-star running backs over the last two classes.

With the rise of Choice’s coaching star, the risk of Texas losing him to the next level or to a promotion at the college level has risen concurrently, but because Choice doesn’t have any experience as a coordinator, hiring him as a college head coach would require a leap of faith by an athletics director while an assistant position in the NFL might not necessarily pay better than the more than $700,000 Choice make at Texas last season or the raise he might receive for turning down the Cowboys.

The high hit rate for Sarkisian’s assistant hires reduces the risk of eventually losing Choice, an outcome that is a matter of when and for what role rather than if.