FootballScoop is proud to announce that Blake Gideon is the 2019 FootballScoop Special Teams Coordinator of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.
Gideon is one of the rising stars in the coaching profession, and Houston's special teams were a showcase why.
Amid an otherwise down season for the Cougars, the special teams were an undisputed bright spot. For starters, Houston blocked six kicks, the most in the nation.
Houston was also one of the best in the nation at covering kickoffs, limiting opponents to an average of 17.6 yards on 31 returns, a figure that rated 14th nationally.
Houston also led the American in net punting, averaging 43.6 yards per boot.
The Coogs were solid in the return game, returning 16 punts for 182 yards and two touchdowns, which ranked among the top 30 in the country. Houston's kick return unit averaged 21.7 yards a return and took back two kicks for scores.
Thanks to those exploits, Houston was the only team in FBS to return two punts and two kickoffs for scores in 2019.
Because of their accomplishments in the return game, the average kickoff by a Houston opponent traveled 59.1 yards, the 22nd shortest in college football.
Coog punter Dane Roy was a Ray Guy Award finalist, as his 46.9-yard average set a school record.
A 2011 Texas graduate and the son of a high school coach, Gideon spent 2012-13 playing in the NFL and joined the coaching profession in 2014 as a graduate assistant under Will Muschamp at Florida. He finished his GA stint at Auburn and rose quickly from there, taking full-time jobs at Western Carolina and Georgia State before joining the Houston staff ahead of the 2019 campaign. He has since taken a job as the special teams coordinator at Ole Miss.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Pete Lembo [Memphis], Josh Martin [SMU] and Gideon) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Gideon will receive his award and be recognized at an event at the AFCA Convention in January.
Previous winners of the Special Teams Coordinator of the Year award are James Shibest (Ole Miss, 2008 and Virginia Tech, 2017), Mike Tolleson (Texas, 2009), Joe Robinson (LSU, 2010), John Baxter (USC, 2011), D.J. Durkin (Florida, 2012), Jeff Ulbrich (UCLA, 2013), Robby Discher (Oklahoma State, 2014), Sean Snyder (Kansas State, 2015), Andre Powell (Pittsburgh, 2016) and Jeff Banks (Alabama, 2018).
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