Herb Hand (born January 5, 1968) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is currently the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. Prior to that, he was the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Playing career

Hand was a three-year starter at

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

, where he played

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. A team captain his senior season, Hand earned All-

NESCAC The New England Small Collegiate Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eleven highly selective liberal arts institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. Th ...

honors in 1989. He graduated from Hamilton in 1990 with a degree in history.

Coaching career

Hand began his coaching career at

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

in 1991 as a defensive graduate assistant, spending three seasons in that role. He earned his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from West Virginia Wesleyan in 1993. Hand has also spent time as the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

at Glenville State from 1994 to 1996 under

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. Rodriguez previously was the head football coach at Salem Uni ...

and at Concord College in

Athens, West Virginia Athens is a town in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 944 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV- VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578. Athens is the home of Concord University. Hist ...

. While at Concord, he also served as the special teams coordinator. He joined the coaching staff at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

in 1999 as an offensive graduate assistant, reuniting with Rodriguez who was Clemson's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. After Rodriguez was named the head coach at

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, Hand joined his staff as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.

Tulsa

When

Todd Graham Michael Todd Graham (born December 5, 1964) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2020–2021). Graham has served as the head football coach at Rice ...

accepted the head coaching position at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

in 2007, he hired Hand to be his co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, splitting coordinator duties with

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF Knights football, UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 t ...

. After Malzahn left to be the offensive coordinator at

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in 2009, Hand was promoted to sole offensive coordinator, as well as assistant head coach.

Vanderbilt

Hand was named the offensive line coach at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

in 2010, joining Robbie Caldwell's staff. After Caldwell resigned at the end of the 2010 season, Hand was retained by newly hired head coach James Franklin. Hand also added the title of run game coordinator to his duties at the beginning of the 2013 season.

Penn State

After Franklin accepted the head coaching job at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

, Hand also joined his staff in the same position he held on Franklin's staff at Vanderbilt. Hand made headlines when he announced that he "dropped" a recruit due to their actions over social media.

Auburn

Hand was named the offensive line coach at Auburn, reuniting with

, who he shared offensive coordinator duties with during their time at Tulsa.

Texas

Hand was named the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 2018, joining Tom Herman's staff. He was not retained when Herman was fired and replaced by

Steve Sarkisian Stephen Sarkisian (born March 8, 1974)Stephens, Ken. – "QB GENEALOGY – Steve Sarkisian is latest in long line of talented BYU quarterbacks". – FUN FACT, Sarkisian’s father is actually Texas Tech Head Coach, Joey McGuire. ''Dallas Mo ...

at the end of the 2020 season.

Charlotte

Hand was hired as the offensive line coach at

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

in 2021. He left Charlotte before coaching a game to become the offensive line coach at UCF.

UCF

Hand left Charlotte to join the coaching staff at

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

, working again with Malzahn.

Personal life

A native of

Westmoreland, New York Westmoreland is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 6,138 at the 2010 census. The Town of Westmoreland is in the west-central part of the county. The New York State Thruway (Interstate 90) passes across the town. ...

, Hand and his wife Debbie have two sons, Trey and Cade, and one daughter, Bailey. Hand suffered a

subarachnoid hemorrhage Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. Symptoms may include a severe headache of rapid onset, vomiting, decreased level of consci ...

in 2006 while recruiting in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. Hand was able to avoid having surgery to repair the bleed, and was able to fly back to Morgantown a week later. A self proclaimed

foodie A foodie is a person who has an ardent or refined interest in food, and who eats food not only out of hunger but also as a hobby. The related terms "gastronome" and "gourmet" define roughly the same thing, i.e. a person who enjoys food for pleas ...

, Hand appeared as a contestant on an episode of

Chopped Chopped can have the following meanings: * Chopped and screwed Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It ...

in 2014, making all the way into the entrée round before being eliminated. Hand has also stated on a

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

AMA that he once cooked a meal for a recruit and was later able to get the recruit to commit. Hand is an avid

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, rapping at a Penn State Junior Elite football camp in 2014 to pump up the players, and rapping during a team meeting while at Texas in 2018.

References

External links

Herb Hand
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Texas bioVanderbilt profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hand, Herb 1968 births Living people People from Westmoreland, New York American football offensive linemen Hamilton Continentals football players Hamilton College (New York) alumni West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats football coaches West Virginia Wesleyan College alumni Glenville State Pioneers football coaches Concord Mountain Lions football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Auburn Tigers football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Charlotte 49ers football coaches UCF Knights football coaches