Florida State is expected to hire veteran offensive line coach Herb Hand, who has been a longtime Gus Malzahn assistant at Auburn and UCF. The move was first announced by 247Sports.

Hand joined Malzahn’s staff at UCF in 2021.

While UCF went 4-8 in 2024, the offense was productive on the ground in racking up 248.1 yards per game (7th in the FBS). UCF also averaged 30.4 points per game (47th in the FBS).

At the core of coach Mike Norvell’s philosophy, and Malzahn’s is to control the game on the ground. The Knights’ total is first among Power 4 schools.

Hand has also been an offensive coordinator (at Tulsa) as well as a co-offensive coordinator (Tulsa and Texas, 2018-20). He is a three-time finalist for Offensive Line Coach of the Year by Football Scoop (2008 and 2016-‘17).

He’s a respected line coach who has worked with Todd Graham and James Franklin (at Vanderbilt from 2010-13 and Penn State from 2014-15). Hand’s line blocked for Saquon Barkley in 2015 when he ran for the Nittany Lions’ freshman rushing yardage record (1,076).

Scouting report: Why Herb Hand?

At Auburn with Hand as the line coach, Braden Smith was named a first-team All-American and he won the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the league’s top lineman in 2016-17.

Among his offensive linemen who earned all-conference or All-American honors are Donovan Smith, a Penn State star who played nine seasons in the NFL. Penn State’s Ryan Bates has played in the NFL with Buffalo and Chicago since 2019.

Left tackle Samuel Cosmi earned All-Big 12 honors while Hand was Texas’ offensive line coach in 2020. Cosmi was a unanimous first-team all-league pick in 2020 and went on to earn third-team All-America honors from the Associated Press.

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