Texas Longhorns Hire Rutgers CB Coach Mark Orphey As New Safeties Coach

The Texas Longhorns have found their replacement for Blake Gideon.

According to reports Orangebloods.com’s Anwar Richardson, the Longhorns have hired Rutgers cornerback coach Mark Orphey as their new safeties coach.

According to my sources, Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian has hired Rutgers CB coach Mark Orphey to replace Blake Gideon,” Richardson reported on X. “Orphey, a North Shore grad, had strong ties to Houston. He’s viewed as an excellent hire for the Longhorns.”

Orphey will be replacing Gideon after the former Longhorns assistant left Austin to accept the defensive coordinator position at Georgia Tech last week.

A Houston, Texas native, Orphey has been the cornerback coach at Rutgers since 2022, with stops at Alabama, Utah State, Montana State, and South Carolina along the way. He got his career started in 2011 as the cornerbacks coach for Texas Southern.

This past season, Rutgers ranked 87th in the nation in pass defense. However, in 2023, the Scarlet Knights were a top-10 pass defense in the country, with Orpehy helping Rutgers earn its first winning season since 2014.