A member of the WVU football family is moving up in the coaching world. Garin Justice, a native of the Mountain State, is heading to Arizona.
Justice, who helped West Virginia beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and was a starter on the offensive line for three seasons, was the head coach at Concord in southern West Virginia before being an assistant under Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic.
Justice is moving across the country, but he will be reunited with his former mentor Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez didn’t exactly leave West Virginia on the best terms in 2007, but his love of his former players remains in tact.
In a release published through the Arizona Daily Star, Rodriguez praised Justice and expressed his own excitement for bringing in the former Mountaineer.
"“I am very excited to bring Garin on staff to be a part of our football program,. He is a former player and coach of mine who has done a great job everywhere he has been. Garin will be an excellent fit for our program and I know our players will enjoy playing for him. We look forward to having him join us here soon at the bowl site.”"
Florida Atlantic played in its bowl game on Tuesday, so Justice will not have much of a layoff. It seems like he is getting his feet wet right away in how the Wildcats do things. Arizona has shown flashes of brilliance and mediocrity since Rodriguez has been the head coach.
Justice brings his own winning attitude to the team. When he was the head coach of Concord, he won 40 games. This past season, FAU was the champion of Conference USA. He seems to be doing a fine job which is why he is moving up rather quickly. Getting an assistant coaching job at a Power 5 school is no easy task and Justice paved his way by being a self-starter.
He is a big guy standing at 6-foot-7, so he is an intimidating force on the sidelines. With his playing days at West Virginia being so successful, he can use that as a recruiting tool even with the Wildcats.
With the addition of Justice, there are now four assistant coaches on the Arizona staff, who had ties to West Virginia and Rich Rodriguez. Calvin Magee and Rod Smith were coaches at WVU and Jahmile Addae played for the Mountaineers.
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Justice already has his picture and biography published on the Arizona website. The Wildcats will play Purdue in the Foster Farms Bowl on Dec. 27.