Joe Houston, who played for Lane Kiffin at Southern Cal and later coached with the New England Patriots for four seasons, enters his first year at LSU and serves as the special teams coordinator for the Tigers.
Houston comes to LSU after two seasons at Florida where he served as a senior special teams analyst in 2024 followed by special teams coordinator last year.
In 2025, Houston’s kicker Trey Smack converted on 18-of-22 field goals, while punter Tommy Doman ranked among the SEC leaders with a 44.0 average.
In 2024, Houston helped guide Florida to a late-season charge, winning the last four games of the season to finish with an 8-5 record overall, with victories over No. 21 LSU, No. 9 Ole Miss, Florida State and Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl.
It was a tremendous season on special teams for Florida, as the unit ranked second in the nation in both the ESPN SP+ and FEI Special Teams rankings. The Gators also ranked No. 11 in the nation in net punting (42.47) and No. 18 in punt returns (13.4).
Individually, Rocco Underwood won the Mannelly Award for the nation’s best long snapper, while also earning second-team All-America honors from the AFCA and second-team All-SEC distinction. Punter Jeremy Crawshaw was named a Reese’s Senior Bowl All-American and finished No. 3 in the SEC and No. 7 in the nation with a 45.8 average. Kicker Trey Smack ranked among the national leaders in field goal percentage (.857), connecting on 18-of-21 field goals.
Crawshaw ended his career as the program’s all-time leader in career punt average at 46.4.
Houston spent the 2020-2023 seasons as a special teams assistant coach for Bill Belichick at the New England Patriots.
Prior to his stint in the NFL, Houston spent three seasons (2016-18) at Iowa State as both special teams coordinator (2018) and associate for quality control (2016-17). In 2019, he served as an analyst for Nick Saban at Alabama.
In his three seasons at Iowa State, Cyclone kickers made 66-of-85 field goals (77.6 pct.) and had players earn first-team and second-team All-Big 12 honors. In 2018, return specialist Kene Nwangwu earned second-team All-Big 12 honors after averaging 26.8 yards per kickoff return, a figure that ranked No. 2 in school history and No. 12 nationally.
Walk-on kicker Connor Assalley took over placekicking duties and excelled under Houston’s coaching. Assalley hit 16 field goals, tying for sixth on ISU’s season list, and began his career making his first eight field goal attempts, the fifth-best string in school history.
Houston was an associate for quality control for special teams from 2016-17, mentoring a pair of All-Big 12 kickers in Cole Netten (2016) and Garrett Owens (2017). Houston's work with Netten, a first-team All-Big 12 kicker, helped produce the school record for field goal percentage (94.1 pct.) in a season, connecting on 16-of-17 attempts.
Owens was an honorable mention All-Big 12 kicker in 2017, connecting on 77.3 percent (17-of-22) of his field goals for the fifth-best single-season percentage in school history. Owens’ 17 field goals made ranked 37th nationally and tied for third on ISU’s season record book.
In his first season at Iowa State, Nwangwu – a true freshman - averaged 26.4 yards per kickoff return, which ranked No. 15 nationally and stood as the fourth-best average in school history. In the season finale vs. West Virginia, Nwangwu ran back a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the third-longest return in school history. Nwangwu was named to a number of freshman All-America teams as a kick returner.
Trever Ryen was one of the best punt returners in the nation in 2016 and 2017, averaging 16.50 per return in 2016, No. 3 nationally. The following year, he ranked No. 20 in the nation with a 10.1 punt return average. His 13.4 career punt return average ranked No. 4 all-time in school history.
As a unit in 2016, Iowa State’s special teams appeared in the Top-35 nationally in punt return defense (No. 21, 4.40), kickoff returns (No. 27, 23.11), and net punting (No. 35, 38.88).
Houston also had stops at Toledo (2015) where he was a quality control assistant and El Camino College (2012-14) as special teams coordinator.
He played professionally for the Chicago Rush and Nebraska Danger of the Arena Football League (AFL). Houston tied the league record with 11 PATs in a game during the 2012 season.
A native of Redondo Beach, California, Houston earned All-America honors at El Camino College in 2006 as a freshman before transferring to Southern Cal in 2007. He served as Lane Kiffin’s starting kicker as a redshirt senior in 2010 in what was Kiffin’s first season as head coach of the Trojans.
In his one season as the starter for the Trojans in 2010, Houston led the team in scoring (73) and converted 10-of-16 field goals and was a perfect 43-of-43 on point-after touchdowns.
Joe Houston File
Year at LSU (in 2026-27): First
Hometown: Redondo Beach, Calif.
College: USC, 2010
Coaching Experience
2012-14 El Camino College (Special Teams Coordinator)
2015 Toledo (Quality Control)
2016-18 Iowa State (Quality Control, 2016-17; Special Teams Coordinator, 2018)
2019 Alabama (Analyst – Special Teams)
2020-23 New England Patriots (Special Teams Assistant)
2024-25 Florida (Senior Analyst, 2024; Special Teams Coordinator, 2025)
2026 LSU (Special Teams Coordinator)