Earlier this week it was reported that Utah had lost defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake to Oregon State. A couple of days later, it appears Kyle Whittingham is on the verge of losing his coordinator on the other side of the ball as well.
By way of CoachingSearch.com, 1280 The Zone in Utah reported that Utes offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Dave Christensen will join the Texas A&M staff. Subsequent to that, FootballScoop.com confirmed that Christensen will be joining the A&M staff.
According to that latter website, Christensen would serve as the Aggies’ offensive line coach as well as running-game coordinator.
Should the reports come to fruition, Christensen would replace B.J. Anderson on Kevin Sumlin‘s coaching staff. Last week, A&M announced that Anderson had been dismissed after three years with the football program.
Christensen is completing his first season with Utah, having come to the Utes after spending the previous four seasons as the head coach at Wyoming. Prior to that, he spent eight seasons as the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at Missouri.
The good news for Utah is they have a built-in replacement for Christensen should he actually leave. Dennis Erickson, the former (take a deep breath) Wyoming, Washington State, Miami, Oregon State, Idaho and Arizona State head coach with extensive offensive expertise, is already on the staff as running backs coach if that’s the direction Whittingham wants to go. In 2013, Erickson served as the Utes’ co-offensive coordinator in addition to his backfield responsibilities.