Noel Mazzone Hired as Texas A&M OC: Latest Comments, Reaction

The Texas A&M Aggies finished a disappointing 2015 campaign with a Music City Bowl loss to Louisville, which marked their fifth defeat in the final eight games. As a result, the fifth-place team in the SEC West reportedly made a coaching staff change Wednesday.

According to Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, former UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone accepted the same role with Texas A&M and is expected to receive a three-year contract.

Mazzone was with UCLA the last four years and was the offensive coordinator for Arizona State the two seasons prior to that.

Chip Brown of Horns Digest described the process that led to Mazzone’s hiring:

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Mazzone will replace Jake Spavital, who, I'm told, was forced out against Kevin Sumlin's wishes earlier this week.

Mazzone was believed to be the front-runner but then appeared reluctant to leave his four-year stint at UCLA after A&M athletic director Eric Hyman was fired on Tuesday, sources told HD, one day after Hyman gave The Dallas Morning News a vote of confidence for Sumlin.

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Texas A&M hired Scott Woodward to take over as the athletic director Wednesday after he held the same position with the University of Washington from 2008-15.

Mazzone led a UCLA offense that was more effective than Texas A&M’s this season. The Bruins finished 28th in the nation in yards per game and 45th in scoring, while the Aggies were 49th in yards per game and 71st in scoring.

However, Mazzone did have superstar quarterback Josh Rosen to work with as a member of the Bruins coaching staff and will have to deal with a Texas A&M program that saw signal-callers Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray both transfer near the end of the 2015 campaign.

Mazzone’s new team, Texas A&M, actually welcomes his old one, UCLA, for the opener of the 2016 season. Unfortunately for Mazzone, he can’t take Rosen with him to the other sideline.