Utah has its new offensive coordinator.
Coach Kyle Whittingham announced the hiring of New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck, who will now run the Utes’ offense, on Thursday night.
Beck, a former BYU quarterback, has been a longtime Bronco Mendenhall staff member. He started working for the former BYU coach in 2013, coaching the Cougars’ quarterbacks until 2015, when Mendenhall resigned from Brigham Young. When Mendenhall took the head coaching job at Virginia in 2016, Beck followed, continuing to coach the quarterbacks through Mendenhall’s tenure in Charlottesville, which ran through 2021.
This season, Beck was Mendenhall’s offensive coordinator at New Mexico, helping engineer one of the nation’s most potent offenses. The Lobos, led by quarterback Devon Dampier, who recently entered the transfer portal, generated 484.2 yards per game, fourth-best in the nation.
New Mexico’s offensive performance this season earned the 44-year-old a Broyles Award nomination, which honors the best assistant coach in college football.
With a defense that was one of the worst in college football, allowing 38 points and 492.1 yards per game, Beck’s offense was a major reason why the Lobos won five games this year — the first time New Mexico has done so since 2016.
Beck’s spread offense in Albuquerque featured a pretty 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 nation (253.6 yards per game) and the No. 63 passing offense in the country (230.7 yards per game).
Prior to running New Mexico’s offense, Beck had two stints as a college offensive coordinator, starting with Canada’s Simon Fraser University in 2012. His first FBS offensive coordinator job came in 2023 with Syracuse.
In a scenario that Utah fans are all too familiar with, Beck dealt with numerous offensive injuries during his lone 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 were forced to go to a heavy rushing attack with tight end Dan Villari playing the role of quarterback.
Syracuse averaged 44.3 points and 507.7 yards in its first four games against Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, but ended the season ranked No. 90 in points per game (23.5) and No. 97 in total yards (343.3).
Three quarterbacks that Beck coached ended up in the NFL — Virginia’s Bryce Perkins and Kurt Benkert, who signed as undrafted free agents, and BYU Taysom Hill, who started his career at the quarterback position for the New Orleans Saints but carved out a successful career as a do-it-all player, catching passes, running the ball and playing on special teams in addition to being a backup quarterback.
Earlier 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, inking a contract with Big 12 foe Texas Tech.
Aside from interim offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian, who took over midseason, Beck is the first new face leading the Utes’ offense since 2019, when Ludwig returned for his second stint at the school.
Ludwig — the longest-tenured offensive coordinator in the Whittingham era — resigned as Utah’s offensive coordinator on Oct. 20, following a 13-7 loss to TCU that marked the fourth conservative game in which Utah failed to score more than 22 points.
Ludwig’s second tenure featured some of the highest highs for Utah in the Kyle Whittingham era and saw a revitalization of the passing game, starting with Tyler Huntley, who threw for 3,092 yards in 2019 — the first time a Utes quarterback had thrown for over 2,900 yards since Brian Johnson did so in 2008, also under Ludwig.
Utah’s offensive success under Ludwig continued with quarterback Cam Rising, who led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 championships, throwing for 5,527 yards and 46 touchdowns over that two-year span.
Without Rising, who missed all of 2023 and the majority 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 in the nation in passing offense in 2023 and No. 99 in 2024.