University of Missouri

MU expected to promote Josh Henson to offensive coordinator

Updated: 2012-12-17T07:18:20Z

By TEREZ A. PAYLOR

The Kansas City Star

— It appears Missouri has found its new offensive coordinator, and it will be a familiar face.

Multiple sources told The Star on Sunday that MU co-offensive line coach Josh Henson is expected to be promoted to offensive coordinator, while receivers coach Andy Hill will become the Tigers’ quarterbacks coach. MU has not announced the staff changes, but is expected to do so Monday.

Henson would replace David Yost, a longtime assistant under coach Gary Pinkel who resigned as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator two weeks ago. At the time that announcement was made, Pinkel said he would look at internal candidates but also conduct “a national search” for someone who could inject life into an injury ravaged offense that was inconsistent as MU limped to a 5-7 record last season, its first in the Southeastern Conference.

But the job of reviving MU’s spread offense appears to have fallen on Henson, who has spent the last four seasons on Pinkel’s staff coaching the offensive linemen alongside Bruce Walker.

Henson, a former tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at LSU, also sat in the coach’s booth with Yost last season and assisted in calling plays. Reports trickled out late last week that Henson had taken a job at Southern Mississippi as offensive coordinator, a move that did not come to fruition.

The promotion of Hill, a former MU player and longtime assistant under Pinkel, would mean the Tigers would need a new receivers coach. Hill had coached receivers at Missouri since 1996, and he also spent 2000 as co-offensive coordinator under former coach Larry Smith.

Hill is also considered to be one of the staff’s top recruiters and has been MU’s main recruiting liaison to the Kansas City area, where a number of top players have committed to the Tigers in recent years.

To reach Terez A. Paylor, call 816-234-4489 or send email to tpaylor@kcstar.com. Follow him at twitter.com/TerezPaylor.

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