Brigham Young Cougars hire Guy Holliday and Jason Beck to completely revamp offensive coaching staff

Late Friday evening, the Brigham Young Cougars announced that Guy Holliday and Jason Beck were hired as assistant football coaches. With the hire of these two highly qualified coaches, BYU has completely revamped its offensive coaching staff that was put into place just two years ago.

On Tuesday, BLUE COUGAR FOOTBALL called Dennis Simmons the ideal candidate to coach wide receivers for BYU. Holliday's resume is very similar to Simmons. The two coaches share other similarities that factored in to the ideal candidate label.

Holliday brings 22 years of coaching experience, including 16 years as a wide receivers coach, with him to BYU. He has seen 20 wide receivers, and 21 players in all, advance to the NFL. That is an average of almost one player per year, overall, and 1.25 wide receivers per season as a receivers coach. This should be well received by Cougar fans who have witnessed a stunning two year drought in players drafted by the NFL.

Holliday has spent time coaching in almost every part of the country. His stops include UTEP (2008-12), Cornell University (2007) located in New York, Mississippi State (2003-07), Western Michigan (2000-02), Alabama State, Tuskegee University (Alabama), and Clark-Atlanta University. In addition to coaching wide receivers, Holliday has been an offensive coordinator, as well as coached tight ends, quarterbacks, and running backs.

Holliday is the only new member of the coaching staff who is not a BYU alumnus. He graduated from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1987. 

Jason Beck returns to BYU after six years away. His three-year playing career finished in 2006, and he spent one year as an intern under offensive coordinator Robert Anae in 2007. Beck also has previous connections with offensive line coach Garett Tujague. Before he came to BYU, Beck was a junior college quarterback at College of the Canyons. That is where Tujague was coaching the offensive line.

In his six years away, Beck has built an impressive resume. Most recently, at Simon Fraser University in British Colombia, Canada, Beck was the offensive coordinator for the top offense in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (NCAA Division II) in 2012. That was just one year after Simon Fraser was the worst offense in the conference. Before going north of the boarder, Beck was in northern Utah at Weber State University for three years (2009-11). He was the Wildcats' quarterback coach, and in those three years Beck groomed Cameron Higgins into the most prolific passer the school has ever seen. New school records were set for career passing yards, touchdown passes, completions, and pass efficiency rating.

Like Holliday, Beck has experience coaching in the SEC. In 2008, Beck served a second internship; this time at LSU.

Holliday and Beck join previously hired offensive assistant coaches Tujague and Mark Atuaia to make up the group that will help implement Anae's offense.

Tujague was an offensive lineman at BYU from 1989-91.  He has coached since 1993. His last 15 years of coaching have been at College of the Canyons in California, including six seasons as head coach. Tujague's claim to fame is having blocked for Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer in 1990.

When Tujague was a senior, Mark Atuaia was a freshman running back for BYU (1991). After his playing career ended in 1996, as part of the best BYU football team over the last 28 years, Atuaia did not enter into coaching. That would wait more than 10 years until Atuaia returned to BYU to study law. While working towards earning his jurisprudence, he provided extensive help coaching running backs for the football team.

To read the complete press release from BYU announcing the hiring of Holliday and Beck, click here.

To read the complete press release from BYU announcing the hiring of Tujague and Atuaia, click here. 

The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com

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