SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham hired Jason Beck to be the Utes’ new offensive coordinator on Thursday night.

Beck joins Utah from New Mexico where he spent this season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Lobos. Under his direction, New Mexico led the Mountain West Conference in total offense, averaging 484.3 yards per game. The Lobos also led the league in red zone offense and first downs offense (298). They were no. 2 in the Mountain West in rushing offense (253.6).

Beck spent two seasons with Syracuse as a quarterbacks coach before joining Bronco Mendenhall’s staff in New Mexico. He was also promoted to the Orange's offensive coordinator in 2023. Beck previously coached quarterbacks under Mendenhall for six seasons at Virginia and three seasons at BYU. He was a backup quarterback for the Cougars from 2004 to 2006.

Utah first pursed Ben Arbuckle and then Mack Leftwich for its offensive coordinator opening before hiring Beck. Both coaches interviewed with the Utes but Arbuckle joined Oklahoma and Leftwich went to Texas Tech.

Beck will be tasked with revitalizing a moribund Utah offense that led to the Utes going 5-7 and not being bowl eligible for the first time since 2013. Utah finished the regular season, ranking 14th in the Big 12 in scoring offense (23.6 ppg) and 15th in total offense (329.8).

Longtime offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig stepped down during the season amid Utah’s offensive struggles. Offensive analyst Mike Bajakian was elevated to interim offensive coordinator in his place, but the Utes saw no significant improvement on that side of the ball following the change.

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