2011 Texas Offensive Playbook - Brian Harsin

The offensive coordinator of the 2011 Texas football team was Bryan Harsin.

Bryan Harsin is an American football coach who served as the offensive coordinator for the 2011 Texas Longhorns football team. Harsin was born on November 1, 1976, in Boise, Idaho, and played college football at Boise State from 1995 to 1999. He began his coaching career in 2000 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater and eventually became the Broncos' offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2010, during which time he developed the team's high-powered "Statue of Liberty" offense.

Harsin joined the Texas Longhorns coaching staff in 2011 and implemented a new offensive system that was more diverse and unpredictable than the team's previous system. The Longhorns offense under Harsin featured a mix of spread concepts, multiple formations, and a strong emphasis on the running game. The offense struggled at times in the 2011 season, but Harsin's system proved successful in subsequent years under new head coach Charlie Strong.

Following his one-year stint at Texas, Harsin became the head coach at Arkansas State for the 2013 season and led the team to a 7-5 record and a Sun Belt Conference championship. He then moved on to become the head coach at his alma mater, Boise State, from 2014 to 2020. During his tenure, he led the Broncos to a 69-19 record, four Mountain West Conference championships, and six bowl game victories. In December 2020, he was hired as the head coach at Auburn.

Bryan Harsin served as the offensive coordinator for Texas during the 2011 season, which was a somewhat disappointing year for the program, as they finished with an 8-5 record. Despite some struggles on offense, the team did have some notable wins, including victories over UCLA, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M.

At the time, Harsin was highly regarded for his work at Boise State, where he had built one of the most explosive and innovative offenses in college football. He brought some of those concepts to Texas, including a focus on tempo and utilizing multiple formations to keep defenses off balance.

Despite some successes in his lone season in Austin, Harsin left to become the head coach at Arkansas State after the season ended.

Bryan Harsin's offensive style at Texas in 2011 was a variation of the spread offense known as the "pistol" formation. The pistol formation is a hybrid of the shotgun and single-back formations, with the quarterback lining up 3-4 yards behind the center and a running back behind him. It allows for a balanced attack, with both the running and passing game being emphasized. Harsin's offense also emphasized quick tempo and up-tempo play, with a focus on getting the ball out quickly and exploiting the defense's weaknesses.