BYU lost another of its highly regarded offensive coaches to Baylor.
One day after the coaching news-based website Footballscoop.com said Thursday that BYU offensive line coach Eric Mateos will follow Jeff Grimes to the Big 12 school, Baylor made the move official.
“I have known Eric for several years,” Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said in a press release announcing Mateos will be the Bears’ offensive line coach. “The thing that I admire most about him is the tremendous job he does developing cohesiveness, earning trust and getting buy-in with his groups. His offensive line units love him, and they play incredibly hard for him. He will pour into our student-athletes, get the most out of them and build a formidable offensive line unit. I am excited for Eric and fiancé Gillian to be a part of our family.”
The school hired BYU’s former offensive coordinator Grimes away from the Cougars earlier this week.
Mateos replaced offensive line coach Ryan Pugh at BYU in 2019 when Pugh left Provo to become Troy’s offensive coordinator. Ironically, Pugh was said on Tuesday to be joining Grimes at Baylor, but Baylor announced Wednesday it was no longer hiring Pugh.
“Since the recent announcement of Ryan Pugh as Baylor’s OL coach, we have decided to move in a different direction,” Aranda announced Wednesday night. “We are currently in the process of filling the resulting vacancy. We wish Ryan the best in his future endeavors.”
Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades told ESPN Central Texas radio Thursday that not hiring Push was a “personnel issue” and said the school reversed course after doing its “due diligence.”
“There were just some things where we felt like we needed to go in another direction,” Rhoades said. “That’s probably the best way that I can explain it.”
BYU loses a coach in Mateos who helped turn its offensive line into one of the best in the country in 2020. Grimes developed left tackle Brady Christensen into a consensus All-American and a likely pick in April’s NFL Draft.
Seniors Chandon Herring, Tristen Hoge and Kieffer Longson are also NFL prospects from BYU’s 2020 offensive line.
Mateos is scheduled to marry BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe’s former administrative assistant Gillian Chavez on Saturday.
Mateos, who is from Overland Park, Kansas, played collegiately at Southwest Baptist and coached there and at Hutchinson Community College before becoming a graduate assistant at Arkansas from 2013-15.
He coached with Grimes at LSU in 2016 and moved on to Texas State as its offensive line coach in 2017-18. He joined coach Kalani Sitake’s staff in 2019.