Georgia Tech hires Texas assistant Blake Gideon as defensive coordinator

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Tech has hired Texas assistant coach Blake Gideon as its defensive coordinator.

The school announced the hiring Friday. Gideon had spent the past four seasons coaching safeties with the Longhorns and was promoted to associate head coach for defense at his alma mater last year. He was part of Texas twice reaching the College Football Playoff, including the semifinals of last season's expanded 12-team format.

The Longhorns led the country with 22 interceptions last year and allowed a national-best 5.69 yards per pass attempt, while rankings second with 31 takeaways, and third in both total defense (283.4) and scoring defense (15.3).

Before his time at Texas, Gideon coached nickel backs and worked as special-teams coordinator at Mississippi in 2020 and Houston in 2019. He also had stops at Georgia State and Western Carolina as a position coach.

He started his career as a quality control assistant at Florida in 2014 and as a graduate assistant at Auburn the following year.

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