Utah
Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck’s 3-year contract makes him one of the Big 12′s highest-paid assistant coaches
Former New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck is getting a substantial raise in his move to Utah.
Beck’s contract to call Utah’s offense is for three seasons and runs from Dec. 6, 2024, to Jan. 31, 2028, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by the Deseret News via a public records request.
Beck made $400,000 last season in Albuquerque, according to a USA Today database of college football assistant coach salaries, and effectively tripled his salary in his move to Salt Lake City.
Utah will pay Beck a base salary of $1.25 million in 2025, according to his contract. He will get a $100,000 raise in each year of his contract, earning a base salary of $1.35 million in 2026 and $1.45 million in 2027.
While it’s a step down from the $2,050,000 that made veteran offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in all of college football, Beck’s salary stacks up well in the Big 12.
Salary data isn’t available for private schools (BYU, TCU and Baylor), but Beck’s $1.25 million salary would have made him the third-highest-paid assistant coach in the league this season, behind Ludwig and Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley, who made $2 million in 2024.
For comparison, Mack Leftwich, who recently signed a deal to be Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator, is making $1 million in 2025, $1.1 million in 2026 and $1.2 million in 2027, according to a copy of his contract obtained by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Beck has been at Utah for just two weeks and has already made a massive impact on the Utes’ offensive revamp. Two staff members that have previously worked with Beck have been hired at Utah — running backs coach Mark Atuaia and receivers coach Micah Simon — and highly sought-after New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier followed Beck to Salt Lake City.
Dampier totaled 3,934 yards of offense in 2024 — 2,768 passing and 1,166 rushing — in Beck’s offense, which was the fourth-most-productive in the country, generating 484.2 yards per game. The sophomore quarterback has been the perfect fit for Beck’s spread offense, which features a lot of quarterback runs and run-pass options.
Under Beck’s direction, the Utes have added seven players from the transfer portal to the offensive side of the ball, including Dampier, Washington State freshman running back Wayshawn Parker (735 yards and four touchdowns) and Tulsa receiver Joseph Williams (30 receptions for 588 yards and five touchdowns in seven games).
SALT LAKE CITY — A California man in Utah, as part of his duties with the National Guard, is accused of trying to solicit sex from a young teenager.
Joshua Ruben Rodriguez, 29, of Fresno, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with attempted rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticement of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began when an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation posed as a 13-year-old girl on a “popular social media site … in an attempt to locate and apprehend adults attempting to have sexual contact with children,” according to charging documents.
On April 16, Rodriguez sent the agent a message — believing he was talking to a teen girl — that stated, “I’ll be direct with you, I would like to get to know you and (have sex with) your mind into a daze to where you feel like a woman,” according to charging documents.
When the “girl” asked if he had a problem with her age, Rodriguez replied, “I don’t have a problem with your age,” the charges state.
The agent told Rodriguez to meet at an apartment complex in Salt Lake County where the girl lived, claiming her mother would be gone. When Rodriguez arrived, he was taken into custody, the charges state.
“(Rodriguez) does not have ties to Utah. He is a resident of Fresno, California. (He) was in town as part of his military service with the California National Guard,” prosecutors stated in charging documents while requesting he be held without bail pending trial.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
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