Utah football coach Ron McBride said he was going to make a commitment to bolster the team’s offense this offseason. Thus far, he’s been true to his word.
On National Letter of Intent Day, he used three-quarters of the team’s 24 available scholarships on offensive players.
And on Tuesday, he made good on his promise to add another offensive coach to the staff when he hired Derek Mason to instruct the U’s crop of wide receivers.
A spot opened up on the team’s coaching staff when defensive ends coach Steve Kaufusi left to take a position at BYU. McBride vowed that, instead of hiring someone to fill that exact position, he’d instead focus on adding another assistant to the offensive side of the ball.
The hiring of Mason allows assistant Vincent White to focus solely on the team’s running backs, after he spent much of last season overseeing both positions.
Mason spent the last three years coaching at Bucknell, but also spent time at Weber State and Idaho State.
“I interviewed three good candidates, and Derek was by far the best fit for our program’s needs,” McBride said. “He is enthusiastic, upbeat and smart. He has a solid background of coaching wide receivers and he’s lived in Utah before. We expect Derek to be a great addition to our program.”
The 32-year-old Phoenix, Ariz., native first joined the collegiate coaching ranks at Mesa Community College in 1994. At Mesa, he instructed Daniel Jones, who went on to become the first ever unanimous juco First Team All-American, and later became an All-Conference performer for the Utes in ’98.
Mason moved on to Weber State, where he also coached the wide receivers in ’95 and ’96. He then joined the ISU staff, where he oversaw the running backs and special teams, from 1997 to ’98.
Finally, at Bucknell, his first two years saw him direct the wideouts, and in 2001 he took over the secondary (he was a defensive back when he played for Northern Arizona University). Under his direction, the Bisons were fifth in total defense and 18th in pass efficiency defense in Division IAA.