2/22/2021 football Edit

Oregon State To Hire AJ Steward As RB Coach

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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Oregon State has announced the hiring of former Arizona running backs coach AJ Steward to fill the vacant position left by Michael Pitre.

“I’m excited to have AJ join the Oregon State family,” Jonathan Smith said. “He’s a veteran coach with a great reputation for developing running backs through his previous stops at Rice, BYU and Arizona. He knows the Pac-12 well and is a great addition to our coaching staff.”

“I’d like to thank Coach Smith for this opportunity,” Steward said. “Oregon State has an incredible tradition of running back success and I’m excited to be a part of that. I’m looking forward to getting to Corvallis to work with a talented group of running backs in an exciting offense led by Coach (Brian) Lindgren.”

Steward, who was most recently the running backs coach on Kevin Sumlin's staff at Arizona in 2020, is coming off a season where the Wildcats finished eighth in the Pac-12 in rushing yards per game (156.4).

Prior to his time in Tuscon, Steward was the running backs' coach at BYU under former Oregon State staffer Kalani Sitake from 2018-19.

During the '19 season, his backfield average 4.4 yards per carry, posting 25 touchdowns. The Cougars averaged 159.1 rushing yards per game and played in the SoFi Hawai’i Bowl against the University of Hawai’i.

A year earlier, the Cougars averaged 153.2 rushing yards per game and had 27 rushing touchdowns on their way to a 7-6 season and a win over Western Michigan in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Before Provo, Steward was the RB coach at Rice University from 2014-17. Before becoming an RB coach, he was a graduate assistant at Rice from 2012-13.

During his last season with the Owls in 2017, his backfield rushed for 187.0 yards per game, which ranked second in Conference USA and 38th nationally.

Steward will have big shoes to fill in Corvallis as he'll replace Pitre, who had become arguably the teams' best recruiter and one of the top developers of talent on the staff.

He'll oversee a backfield in Corvallis that features B.J. Baylor, South Carolina transfer Deshaun Fenwick, Trey Lowe, Ta'Ron Madison, Isaiah Newell, and incoming freshman Damir Collins.