Florida Gators hire away veteran defensive line coach Chris Rumph from Texas

The Florida Gators on Friday announced that head coach Jim McElwain has hired Chris Rumph away from Texas to replace recently-hired defensive line coach Terrell Williams, who left the program after one month to take a job in the NFL.

Rumph, who coached with both McElwain and Florida offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier (separately) at Alabama over three seasons from 2011-13, spent the 2014 campaign as the assistant head coach for defense and defensive line coach at Texas, where he earned $415,600. The Longhorns ranked 11th nationally in team sacks (40) and 39th in tackles for loss (84) with him on the staff.

“Chris and I obviously have some experience working together from our days at Alabama,” said McElwain in a release. “He joins a group of like thinkers on our staff and is someone who will positively affect our players’ lives – both on and off the field.”

Rumph, a linebacker at South Carolina from 1991-94, began his career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater in the spring of 1997 and then took over as head coach at Calhoun County High School from 1997-2001. From there, he became the defensive backs coach at South Carolina State (2002), outside linebackers coach at Memphis (2003-05) and defensive line coach at Clemson (2006-10).

Noted as a strong recruiter, Rumph, 43, will be able to pick up right where Williams left off on the recruiting trail. He is also hailed as a talented coach, who has helped Clemson, Alabama and Texas

While with the Crimson Tide, Rumph recruited five-star defensive end CeCe Jefferson (Glen Saint Mary, FL), a Gators commitment who has yet to send in his National Letter of Intent to Florida.

With Rumph now in the fold, the Gators have eight of their nine assistant coaches hired, only needing to fill the wide receivers coach role on McElwain’s initial coaching staff. OnlyGators.com has been told on numerous occasions by sources close to the program that Florida has cast a wide net for the job and interviewed former program assistants and players as well as assistants working elsewhere in the college and NFL ranks. OnlyGators.com also learned over the last two weeks that there have been some hiccups to the process with at least one expected hire removed from the process for an undisclosed reason.