Arizona hires FAU’s Garin Justice as new offensive line coach

The Arizona Wildcats have hired Florida Atlantic offensive line coach Garin Justice to the same position, the school announced Tuesday night.

The Gilbert, West Virginia native replaces the well-regarded Jim Michalczik, who left for Oregon State earlier this month.

Justice played offensive tackle under Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia from 2001-2005 and started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at WVU in 2006.

He will join the Wildcats in the Bay Area as they prep for the Foster Farms Bowl.

"I am very excited to bring Garin on staff to be a part of our football program," Rodriguez said. "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."

Justice was hired by then-FAU head coach Charlie Partridge in 2016, and was retained by Lane Kiffin prior to the 2017 season.

Florida Atlantic went 11-3 this season, averaging 39.8 points per game, the ninth-best mark in college football. Justice has been credited for developing the Owls’ offensive line into one of the best in the country.

FAU became the first Conference USA team to have three offensive linemen on the conference’s All-First Team.

Before joining FAU, Justice was the head coach/offensive line coach at Concord, a Division II school, from 2011-2015 where he compiled a 40-17 overall record.

Justice led Concord to two conference championships and two NCAA Division II playoff appearances.

Before taking over as Concord’s head coach, Justice was the program’s offensive line coach. Prior to that he was a graduate assistant at Florida State.

According to this site, Justice signed a two-year deal at $100,000 (it’s not clear if that means $100,000 per year or total) when he joined FAU’s staff in 2016. Michalczik’s salary at Arizona was listed at $310,000 by USA Today.

Graduate assistant Kyle Quinn and analyst Glenn Parker have been coaching Arizona’s offensive line during bowl season.

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire