The decision comes with a raise for Choice, who is proving himself as one of the best running backs coaches in the country.
“Naw. Choice good.”
The comment made by Texas Longhorns running backs coach Tashard Choice to Burnt Orange Nation at the Peach Bowl Media Day in Atlanta at the end of December was about his lack of interest in adding a ballcarrier from the NCAA transfer portal, but it also applies now to his decision to remain on the Forty Acres after interviewing with the Dallas Cowboys, according to reports on Monday.
Choice reportedly received a raise to remain with the Longhorns, bumping his salary from $700,000 to more than $800,000 in rebuffing the interest from the Cowboys in addition to the Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints.
It’s a significant development for Texas, especially considering Choice’s ties to Dallas — the Cowboys were the team that selected him in the fourth round of the 2008 NFL Draft before playing three-plus seasons for Jerry Jones and starting his coaching career in Dallas as an intern in 2016.
Choice rose quickly up the coaching ranks, going from texas-rb-coach-tashard-choice-to-interview-with-the-dallas-cowboys/” title=”Texas RB coach Tashard Choice to interview with the Dallas Cowboys”>graduate assistant at North Texas to assistant at North Texas, taking a job at his alma mater, Georgia Tech, and then briefly joining Lincoln Riley’s staff at USC before replacing Stan Drayton at Texas.
On the Forty Acres, Choice has coached four NFL Draft picks at his position over two years with early entrant Jaydon Blue set to become the fifth. As a recruiter, Choice’s ties to Georgia make him a valuable member of the coaching staff across positions in addition to elite results at running back, including landing CJ Baxter in 2023, the nation’s top running back.
Now Choice has decided to stick around for at least one more year at Texas to coach the high-level position room that he assembled.
