Virginia Offensive Line Coach Garett Tujague Hired by NC State
In this story:
Virginia's longtime offensive line coach Garett Tujague is headed to Raleigh to become the next offensive line coach at NC State, per multiple reports on Sunday night. After seven seasons as the OL coach at UVA, Tujague will join fellow former Virginia assistant Robert Anae, who was hired as NC State's next offensive coordinator on Friday.
Tujague was part of the coaching staff that came to Virginia from BYU in 2016 and then Tujague was retained on Tony Elliott's new UVA coaching staff this past offseason. He also took on the additional role of recruiting coordinator in 2022.
The loss of Garett Tujague poses a significant challenge for Tony Elliott and the Cavaliers, as Tujague did a phenomenal job developing consistently solid offensive lines throughout his time at UVA. Tujague's offensive lines were pivotal in Virginia's run to the ACC Coastal Championship in 2019 and paved the way for the most explosive offense in Virginia history in 2021. He was responsible for the development of three All-ACC offensive linemen, including center Olu Oluwatimi, who became UVA's first-ever finalist for the Rimington Trophy in 2021.
Following Bronco Mendenhall's resignation in 2021, UVA lost six offensive linemen with starting experience to either the transfer portal or graduation. Tujague embraced the challenge of totally reconstructing the offensive line and the inexperienced unit displayed significant growth throughout the 2022 season.
Tujague's move to NC State likely comes as a direct result of Robert Anae's hiring as the offensive coordinator at NC State last week. Anae left Virginia to go to Syracuse along with quarterbacks coach Jason Beck following Bronco Mendenhall's resignation at the end of the 2021 season. After one season at Syracuse, Anae was hired as the offensive coordinator at NC State, taking the job vacated by Tim Beck, who was hired as the head coach at Coastal Carolina. Jason Beck has since been promoted to offensive coordinator at Syracuse.
With Garett Tujague's sudden departure, there are now only two holdovers from Bronco Mendenhall's UVA staff on the current Virginia coaching staff under Tony Elliott: linebackers coach Clint Sintim and associate head coach and wide receivers coach Marques Hagans. Elliott and the Cavaliers will now begin a search to find Tujague's replacement as the next offensive line coach at Virginia.
See more Virginia football news and content: Virginia Football on Sports Illustrated
See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated
To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:
Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN
