Former Connecticut and WKU offensive coordinator has previously coached receivers at Alabama, Michigan, Indiana and Cincinnati
TAMPA, JAN. 25, 2016 – USF Head Coach Willie Taggart today announced the addition of veteran offensive coordinator T.J. Weist to the Bulls' staff as wide receivers coach. A former offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky and Connecticut and interim head coach for the Huskies in 2013, Weist and Taggart spent six highly successful seasons working together on the WKU staff in the early 2000's.
“I've always said, we are going to keep getting better and Coach Weist fits that bill,” Taggart said. “I'm very excited to bring somebody to our program that I know so well and that has had the experience and the success T.J. Weist has in college football. Our offense set several records in 2015, and I can't wait to get started working on breaking them.”
Weist has coached wide receivers at eight different Division I programs and most recently served as a senior offensive analyst for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan in 2015.
“I am very excited to coach again with Coach Taggart and to join in a program in USF that has a very exciting future ahead of it,” Weist said. “I saw what that offense did, particularly at the end of last season, and the players coming back and I am very excited to get to work in Tampa.”
A former Alabama wide receiver, Weist began his career as a graduate assistant first for the Crimson Tide (1988-89) and then Michigan (1990-93) coaching wide receivers at both stops, including helping to guide current ESPN analyst Desmond Howard to the 1991 Heisman Trophy with the Wolverines. Howard is among 23 wide receivers Weist has guided to NFL careers during a coaching career that now spans more than 25 years.
Weist joined Jack Harbaugh's WKU coaching staff in 2002 as a wide receivers/running backs coach and teamed with Taggart, then the co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, to help lead the Hilltopper's to the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA Championship. The pair spent six seasons working together at WKU. Weist served as offensive coordinator from 2003-06, when Taggart was promoted to assistant head coach under head coach David Elson, and then as assistant head coach from 2007-09, after Taggart left to coach with Jim Harbaugh at Stanford.
Following eight years at WKU, Weist moved in 2010 to become wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Cincinnati where he helped the Bearcats win two Big East championships and post two bowl victories in his three seasons. In 2010, he coached a pair of All-Big East Conference selections in Armon Binns (first team) and D.J. Woods (second team), as the duo were the No. 1 and 2 ranked receivers in the Big East. In 2012, he helped lead the Bearcats to a 10-3 record and a 48-34 victory over Duke in the Belk Bowl, serving as Cincinnati's offensive coordinator in the bowl game as the Bearcats gained 554 yards of total offense.
Weist moved to UConn as offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach in 2013 and was elevated to interim head coach four games into the 2013 season. He continued to serve as offensive coordinator and coach wide receivers. Under Weist, the Huskies closed the season with three consecutive wins, scoring 28 or more points in each game, including a season-high 45 points in the team's victory over Memphis in the season finale. In that contest, Huskies quarterback Casey Cochran set a school single-game record with 461 passing yards, and wide receiver Geremy Davis notched a program-record 15 catches for a career-high 207 yards. Davis finished the season with 1,085 receiving yards, becoming the first 1,000-yard receiver for UConn in 15 years.
Weist served as wide receivers coach at Indiana from 1997-2001, where he also coached return units on special teams and served as the Hoosiers' recruiting coordinator his first two years. He has also coached wide receivers on staffs at Tulsa (1996) and Southern Illinois (1994-95).
A native of Bay City, Michigan, Weist was a wide receiver at Alabama from 1985-87, taking part in three postseason bowl games and lettering as a senior. He earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1988 and then completed a master's degree in exercise physiology one year later.
Weist and his wife Karen have a son, James (7) and infant twin daughters, Karrington and Samantha.
USF returns record-setting receiver Rodney Adams (822 yards and 9 TD) and 10 of its top 11 receivers in 2015 along with record-setting quarterback Quinton Flowers (2,296 yards passing, 991 yards rushing and a combined 34 touchdowns) and record-setting running back Marlon Mack (1,381 yards).
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