New Mexico’s Jason Beck hired as Utah’s offensive coordinator – Deseret News

Utah has its new offensive coordinator.

Coach Kyle Whittingham announced Thursday night the hiring of New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck, who will now lead the Utes’ offense.

Beck, a former BYU quarterback, is a longtime Bronco Mendenhall employee. He began working for the former BYU coach in 2013 and coached the Cougars’ quarterbacks until 2015, when Mendenhall resigned from Brigham Young. When Mendenhall took the head coaching job at Virginia in 2016, Beck followed him and coached the quarterbacks during Mendenhall’s tenure in Charlottesville, which lasted through 2021.

This season, Beck Mendenhall was New Mexico’s offensive coordinator and helped develop one of the most potent offenses in the country. The Lobos, led by quarterback Devon Dampier, who recently entered the transfer portal, produced 484.2 yards per game, fourth-best in the country.

New Mexico’s offensive performance this season earned the 44-year-old a nomination for the Broyles Award, which honors the top assistant coach in college football.

With a defense that was among the worst in college football, allowing 38 points and 492.1 yards per game, Beck’s offense was a key reason the Lobos won five games this year – the first time since 2016 that New Mexico managed this.

Beck’s spread offense in Albuquerque featured a fairly even run-pass split that slightly favored running the ball (New Mexico passed it on 46.8% of plays) and heavily utilized quarterback runs. Dampier threw for 2,768 yards and 12 touchdowns with 12 interceptions this season and added 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground.

The Lobos were the fifth most productive running team in the country (253.6 yards per game) and the No. 63 passing game in the country (230.7 yards per game).

Before leading New Mexico’s offense, Beck held two stints as a college offensive coordinator, starting at Canada’s Simon Fraser University in 2012. His first job as an FBS offensive coordinator came at Syracuse in 2023.

In a scenario all too familiar to Utah fans, Beck dealt with numerous offensive injuries during his only season with the Orange, including an injury to starting quarterback Garrett Shrader that limited him. In three of Syracuse’s last four games, the Orange have been forced into a heavy rushing attack, with tight end Dan Villari playing the quarterback role.

Syracuse averaged 44.3 points and 507.7 yards in its first four games against Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, but finished the season ranked 90th in points per game (23.5) and 97th in points per game Total yards (343.3).

Three quarterbacks Beck coached ended up in the NFL – Virginia’s Bryce Perkins and Kurt Benkert, who signed as undrafted free agents, and BYU’s Taysom Hill, who began his career at the quarterback position for the New Orleans Saints but as a quarterback An all-rounder who caught passes, ran the ball and played on special teams, as well as being a backup quarterback, had a successful career.

Early in the process, Utah reportedly targeted Washington State’s Ben Arbuckle and Texas State’s Mack Leftwich, but Arbuckle signed with Oklahoma and Leftwich stayed in Texas and signed with Big 12 opponent Texas Tech.

Aside from interim offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian, who took over midseason, Beck is the first new face to lead the Utes’ offense since 2019, when Ludwig returned for his second stint with the school.

Ludwig — the longest-tenured offensive coordinator of the Whittingham era — resigned as Utah’s offensive coordinator on Oct. 20 after a 13-7 loss to TCU. This was the fourth conservative game in which Utah scored no more than 22 points.

Ludwig’s second term brought some of the highest levels of success for Utah in the Kyle Whittingham era and brought a resurgence in the passing game, starting with Tyler Huntley, who threw for 3,092 yards in 2019 – the first time a Utes quarterback threw for more than 2,900 yards since Brian Johnson also did this under Ludwig in 2008.

Utah’s offensive success under Ludwig continued with quarterback Cam Rising, who led the Utes to consecutive Pac-12 championships, throwing for 5,527 yards and 46 touchdowns over that two-year span.

Without Rising, who missed all of 2023 and most of 2024, Utah’s offense stagnated, scoring just 23.2 points per game in 2023 and 23.6 points per game in 2024. The Utes also ranked No. 117 nationally in passing offense in 2023 and No. 99 in 2024.