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Report: Florida Gators "GameChanger Coordinator" Chris Couch leaving for Houston

IMG_6615by:Blake Alderman•06/02/25•

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Chris Couch when he was announced as a hire by the Florida Gators

The Florida Gators added Chris Couch to the coaching staff ahead of Billy Napier’s first season in Gainesville. However, the 2024-2025 season would be his last. According to a report from CBSSports Matt Zenitz, Crouch will leave UF to become the next special teams coordinator for the Houston Cougars.

Despite this departure, the Florida Gators will still have special teams coordinator Joe Houston on staff. Houston enters his second season with the Gators after being hired in the role of Senior Analyst GameChanger ahead of the 2024 season. Before the 2025 campaign, Houston was named special teams coordinator.

Chris Couch has been with Billy Napier since 2021

Couch served as the “GameChanger coordinator” for Florida since 2022. That position is what head coach Billy Napier uses for the role of his special teams coordinator.

The native of Milledgeville (GA) has been a member of Napier’s staff since the 2021 season at Louisiana. He was the special teams coordinator and the director of quality control & analytics. Overall, Couch’s time with UL was successful.

The Ragin’ Cajuns ranked ninth nationally in net punting, tied-for-10th in blocked kicks, 15th in punting average, and 17th in kickoff return defense during Couch’s lone season in Lafayette. At the Sun Belt Conference level, UL had the best kick return defense and net punting, while ranking fourth in kick return yardage.

Couch had an up-and-down time as a part of the Florida Gators staff. He came under fire multiple times for sloppy special-teams play. There were multiple instances where his unit failed to get the right number of players on the field. This was a recurring problem that plagued the Florida Gators in Napier’s first two seasons in Gainesville.

Crouch reunited with some familiar faces

Before joining Napier’s staff at UL, Chris Couch spent five seasons at Tulane from 2016 to 2020. He worked as the special teams analyst and recruiting coordinator. During his last three seasons at Tulane, the Green Wave ranked in the top half of the American Athletic Conference and top-50 nationally in both kick and punt returns. Crouch going to Houston reunites him again with now Houston head coach Willie Fritz, who was the head coach at Tualne while Chris Couch was on that staff. Crouch will also be reunited with former Florida defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong, who left Florida for Houston earlier this year.

Other past stints for Chris Couch include serving as the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Point University (2015), a defensive graduate assistant at Georgia Southern (2013-14), and the slot backs coach at Missouri Southern State University (2012).

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