Report: Florida set to hire New England Patriots assistant Joe Houston as special teams coordinator

Florida is expected to hire New England Patriots assistant special teams coach Joe Houston to coach its special teams, per Jacob Rudner.

Houston has spent the past three years with the Patriots. During Houston’s tenure with the Patriots, the team converted 85.3% of their field goal attempts. Houston received rave reviews from his fellow staffers in New England.

“Houston does a great job working with all the specialists and also working with the core guys as well,” Patriots special teams coordinator Cam Achord told reporters in October last year. “It’s a special opportunity when you have a guy that’s done it before, felt the ball off his foot, kicked the ball off his foot. It’s a guy that can really talk about how it’s feeling where you’re hitting the ball.

‌“Anything can be learned as you see coaching. But Joe is a great resource for those guys. He does a great job with them, talking to them, keeping their minds right. And just talking about, ‘Hey, well, you know where’d it hit here, was our [operation] time, were we smooth? Were you tight? Where you crouched over? You see the ball through,’ just all the technique things. Using those bunch of words that those guys like to hear that they know. So he does a great job.”

Joe Houston’s collegiate experience

Before coaching in the NFL, Houston gained a wealth of collegiate experience. Houston spent four seasons at Iowa State, where he mentored Iowa State kicker returner Kene Nwangwu, who was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team.

While with the Cyclones, Houston also developed walk-on kicker Connor Assalley, who hit 16 field goals in 2018, tying for sixth on ISU’s season list. Assalley also began his career making his first eight field goal attempts, the fifth-best string in school history.

Prior to his time at Iowa State, Houston also had stints at Toledo and El Camino College. He’s not only coached special teams in his career but also served as a quality control assistant multiple times. Houston’s experience isn’t limited to behind the headset.

In his playing days, Houston was a placekicker at USC under head coaches Pete Carroll and Lane Kiffin in 2009 and 2010. He led the team in scoring (73 points) and made 10-of-16 field goals and 43-of-43 PATs as a senior.

Last season, Florida kicker Trey Smack connected on 1.42 field goals a game, the 28th-most in the country. He converted at an 81% rate on his attempts. Houston will aim to increase the numbers while improving other aspects of the Gators’ special teams.