Boulware named associate head coach for special teams and tight ends coach at Texas
A Texas Ex and former Longhorn graduate assistant coach with extensive experience coaching and coordinating special teams in the Big 12, SEC and Pac 12, Jay Boulware has joined the UT staff.
Austin, Texas – A Longhorn Letterman, former UT graduate assistant and veteran college coach with extensive experience coaching and coordinating special teams in the Big 12, SEC and Pac 12, Jay Boulware has been named associate head coach for special teams and tight ends coach at Texas, head coach Tom Herman announced Saturday. In his 22 years as a full-time assistant coach, Boulware has been a part of 15 teams that advanced to bowl games, including 10 in the last 11 years, as well as College Football Playoff berths with Oklahoma in four of the past five seasons.
“Jay is a proven, accomplished coach and special teams coordinator who as a former Longhorn and Texas native, has deep roots in our state,” Herman said. “He also has extensive experience coaching in the Big 12, having spent a decade in our league, and has worked with teams that have competed at the highest level, including a National Championship team at Auburn in 2010. Jay’s a coach I’ve been aware of for a long time, is very well-respected in coaching circles and certainly knows the recruiting landscape in our state very well. We all were really impressed in our visits with him, know he’ll do a great job building relationships and developing our players, and we’re extremely excited to be bringing him back home to Texas.”
“I’ve been watching this program from afar since the day I left there in the spring of 1997, and I’ve always had it in my mind that I would like to come back someday and help Texas win a National Championship,” Boulware said. “I love everything about The University of Texas, and I’m looking forward to working closely with Coach Herman, with our special teams, and obviously coaching our tight ends to put together a product on the field that’s the best in the country. I couldn’t be more excited, and I can’t wait to get started.”
An all-state selection at Nimitz High School in Irving who played along both the offensive and defensive lines, Boulware joined the Longhorns as an offensive lineman in 1991. After redshirting his first year and seeing action as a reserve in 1992, he was contending for a starting position before the 1993 season, but was forced to end his career after being diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia. He went on to begin his coaching career at Texas, first as a student coach (1994-95) and then as a graduate assistant (1996). He helped UT win at least a share of three conference championships and a bowl berth in all three of his seasons working with the staff. Texas tied for the Southwest Conference Championship in 1994, won the final SWC title outright in 1995 and knocked off No. 3 Nebraska to win the first-ever Big 12 Championship in 1996. Those teams advanced to the 1994 Sun Bowl, 1995 Sugar Bowl and 1997 Fiesta Bowl.
“I’ve been so fortunate to coach a lot of great players, and I definitely am grateful for all of them because that’s why I’ve been a part of teams that have had so much success,” Boulware said. “Recruiting is a big part of that. I grew up playing Texas high school football, and I understand the importance of football in the state and the players in the state. I know that’s a high priority for Coach Herman and the staff, and they’ve had a lot of success with the last couple of recruiting classes. Putting a rope around this big state that we have and keeping the top players in this state is so important to compete at a national level, and I’m really looking forward to helping us do that.”
Boulware returns to Texas from Oklahoma, where he spent the last seven years, all as special teams coordinator, including the last five as running backs coach and the previous two as tight ends coach. In that time, Oklahoma's special teams produced 10 TDs, a safety and three returned two-point PATs under his direction.
Over the last five years, Boulware has guided six 1,000-yard rushers, and five of his running backs during that time have earned first or second-team All-Big 12 honors with three having been NFL Draft picks since 2017.
In 2019, the Oklahoma offense led the Big 12 and ranked 14th nationally in rushing yards (204.2 ypg), along with ranking fifth in the nation in yards per carry (5.95). Running back Kennedy Brooks earned second-team All-Big 12 honors, leading the team with 1,011 rushing yards and ranking ninth in the nation in yards per carry at 6.52. Brooks, Rhamondre Stevenson and Trey Sermon combined for 1,911 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.
The Sooners’ special teams ranked in the top 40 nationally in kickoff return defense (33rd/19.21 ypr) and net punting (31st/40.16 ypp). Placekicker Gabe Brkic did not miss a field goal (17-of-17) or an extra point (52-of-52), led the nation with a perfect field goal percentage and was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.
Boulware presided over a 2018 running backs group that helped Oklahoma lead the nation in yards per carry (6.6). Brooks ranked third nationally with 8.9 yards per rush (minimum 9.0 carries per game) and was a USA Today Freshman All-American (1,056 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns), while Sermon ran for 947 yards and 13 TDs.
Kicker/punter Austin Seibert, who in 2018 was named Oklahoma’s first-ever Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year, finished his career as the all-time FBS scoring leader among kickers, as his 499 points set school and Big 12 records. He went on to be drafted in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
In 2017, Oklahoma led the Big 12 with its 217.8 rushing yards per contest. Running back Rodney Anderson ranked 20th in rushing yards per carry with 6.28, 26th with 13 rushing touchdowns and 35th with 1,161 rushing yards.
Boulware oversaw one of the nation’s top running back tandems in 2015 and 2016, resulting in Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon both declaring for the 2017 NFL Draft. Perine, Oklahoma’s all-time rushing leader (4,122 yards), ran for 2,409 yards and 28 TDs after Boulware moved to running backs coach, while Mixon ran for 2,027 yards and 17 TDs his last two years. Mixon also caught 65 passes for 894 yards and nine TDs.
His 2015 punt unit led the nation by allowing just 1.09 yards per return (12 yards on 11 returns). Austin Seibert was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist.
Boulware served as tight ends coach at Oklahoma in 2013-14, helping former quarterback Blake Bell become a fourth-round draft pick as a tight end, a position he had never played prior to 2014. Fullbacks Trey Millard and Aaron Ripkowski were eventual NFL Draft picks.
On special teams, he mentored RB Alex Ross, who finished third in the nation on kickoff return yards (31.2 average) in 2014 and tied for second among FBS players with two kickoff return touchdowns. Kicker Michael Hunnicutt concluded his career under Boulware as the all-time leading scorer in Oklahoma history at that time with 450 points, which ranked sixth in FBS history. Hunnicutt made a Big 12-record 75 career field goals, set an Oklahoma single-season record with 24 made FGs in 2013 and was named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.
The Sooners registered three special teams TDs in 2013, including one on a fake field goal in a 33-24 win at Oklahoma State. WR Jalen Saunders ranked ninth in the FBS with a 15.4-yard punt return average that year, and Oklahoma led the Big 12 and was eighth in the FBS with a 14.2 average, including two punt return touchdowns.
Boulware spent the previous four seasons (2009-12) at Auburn as tight ends coach and special teams coordinator, where he was part of head coach and former Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik's staff that inherited a team coming off a 5-7 record in 2008. Two seasons later, the Tigers posted a 14-0 record capped by a 22-19 win over Oregon in the BCS Championship Game. Boulware's star pupil at tight end while at Auburn was Philip Lutzenkirchen, a second-team All-SEC selection in 2011 who set the school's record for career touchdown receptions for a tight end with 14.
Boulware's punt coverage unit ranked second in the nation in 2012, allowing just four punt return yards on 70 punts. The Tigers also ranked third in the country in kickoff coverage that year, allowing 16.6 yards per return. Under Boulware's direction in 2011, Auburn led the SEC in kickoff return yards (1,264), kick return touchdowns (two), kickoff coverage (546 yards) and fewest punts returned (10).
Kicker Wes Byrum set an Auburn single-season record with 123 points in 2010, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. Auburn led the SEC and ranked ninth in the nation in punt coverage, allowing 4.6 yards per return that year, while also ranking 16th in the nation in kickoff coverage, permitting 19.7 yards per return.
In 2009, Byrum set a single-season school records for field goal percentage (93.8; 15-of-16) and PAT conversions and attempts (54). Boulware also guided RB Demond Washington to an Auburn single-season record with a 31.1-yard kickoff return average.
Boulware spent two seasons (2007-08) at Iowa State. The Cyclones ranked 12th nationally in kickoff returns in 2008 behind second-team freshman All-America kick returner Leonard Johnson. Johnson set an NCAA FBS record with 319 kickoff return yards against Oklahoma State. ISU was also second in the Big 12 Conference in punting that year.
In Boulware's first ISU season, newcomer tailbacks Alexander Robinson and J.J. Bass both posted a pair of 100-yard games. It marked the first time two different Cyclone running backs topped the century barrier twice in a single season since 2002.
Prior to Iowa State, Boulware worked for two seasons as tight ends coach/co-special teams coordinator at Utah (2005-06), and during the summer of 2004, he was part of the NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship Program with the San Francisco 49ers. While at Utah, his special teams units were among the Mountain West Conference leaders, including a Utah kickoff return unit that led the MWC in 2006. His time at Utah was preceded by a one-year stint as running backs coach at Stanford in 2004.
Boulware spent three seasons at Arizona as tight ends coach (2001), running backs coach (2002) and running backs coach/special teams coordinator (2003). During his tenure with the Wildcats he mentored running back Mike Bell who finished his collegiate career with 3,163 rushing yards, the third-highest total in school history.
Boulware received his initial full-time coaching assignment at Northern Illinois, where he coached tight ends (1997) and served as co-offensive line coach (1998-2000). One of his star pupils with the Huskies was Ryan Diem, who spent 11 seasons as an offensive lineman with the Indianapolis Colts.
Born in Oklahoma City, Boulware moved to Houston as a second grader and then to Irving five years later. He and his wife, Chantay, have one daughter, Jordin.
A Texas Ex and former Longhorn graduate assistant coach with extensive experience coaching and coordinating special teams in the Big 12, SEC and Pac 12, Jay Boulware has joined the UT staff.
Austin, Texas – A Longhorn Letterman, former UT graduate assistant and veteran college coach with extensive experience coaching and coordinating special teams in the Big 12, SEC and Pac 12, Jay Boulware has been named associate head coach for special teams and tight ends coach at Texas, head coach Tom Herman announced Saturday. In his 22 years as a full-time assistant coach, Boulware has been a part of 15 teams that advanced to bowl games, including 10 in the last 11 years, as well as College Football Playoff berths with Oklahoma in four of the past five seasons.
“Jay is a proven, accomplished coach and special teams coordinator who as a former Longhorn and Texas native, has deep roots in our state,” Herman said. “He also has extensive experience coaching in the Big 12, having spent a decade in our league, and has worked with teams that have competed at the highest level, including a National Championship team at Auburn in 2010. Jay’s a coach I’ve been aware of for a long time, is very well-respected in coaching circles and certainly knows the recruiting landscape in our state very well. We all were really impressed in our visits with him, know he’ll do a great job building relationships and developing our players, and we’re extremely excited to be bringing him back home to Texas.”
“I’ve been watching this program from afar since the day I left there in the spring of 1997, and I’ve always had it in my mind that I would like to come back someday and help Texas win a National Championship,” Boulware said. “I love everything about The University of Texas, and I’m looking forward to working closely with Coach Herman, with our special teams, and obviously coaching our tight ends to put together a product on the field that’s the best in the country. I couldn’t be more excited, and I can’t wait to get started.”
An all-state selection at Nimitz High School in Irving who played along both the offensive and defensive lines, Boulware joined the Longhorns as an offensive lineman in 1991. After redshirting his first year and seeing action as a reserve in 1992, he was contending for a starting position before the 1993 season, but was forced to end his career after being diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia. He went on to begin his coaching career at Texas, first as a student coach (1994-95) and then as a graduate assistant (1996). He helped UT win at least a share of three conference championships and a bowl berth in all three of his seasons working with the staff. Texas tied for the Southwest Conference Championship in 1994, won the final SWC title outright in 1995 and knocked off No. 3 Nebraska to win the first-ever Big 12 Championship in 1996. Those teams advanced to the 1994 Sun Bowl, 1995 Sugar Bowl and 1997 Fiesta Bowl.
“I’ve been so fortunate to coach a lot of great players, and I definitely am grateful for all of them because that’s why I’ve been a part of teams that have had so much success,” Boulware said. “Recruiting is a big part of that. I grew up playing Texas high school football, and I understand the importance of football in the state and the players in the state. I know that’s a high priority for Coach Herman and the staff, and they’ve had a lot of success with the last couple of recruiting classes. Putting a rope around this big state that we have and keeping the top players in this state is so important to compete at a national level, and I’m really looking forward to helping us do that.”
Boulware returns to Texas from Oklahoma, where he spent the last seven years, all as special teams coordinator, including the last five as running backs coach and the previous two as tight ends coach. In that time, Oklahoma's special teams produced 10 TDs, a safety and three returned two-point PATs under his direction.
Over the last five years, Boulware has guided six 1,000-yard rushers, and five of his running backs during that time have earned first or second-team All-Big 12 honors with three having been NFL Draft picks since 2017.
In 2019, the Oklahoma offense led the Big 12 and ranked 14th nationally in rushing yards (204.2 ypg), along with ranking fifth in the nation in yards per carry (5.95). Running back Kennedy Brooks earned second-team All-Big 12 honors, leading the team with 1,011 rushing yards and ranking ninth in the nation in yards per carry at 6.52. Brooks, Rhamondre Stevenson and Trey Sermon combined for 1,911 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.
The Sooners’ special teams ranked in the top 40 nationally in kickoff return defense (33rd/19.21 ypr) and net punting (31st/40.16 ypp). Placekicker Gabe Brkic did not miss a field goal (17-of-17) or an extra point (52-of-52), led the nation with a perfect field goal percentage and was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.
Boulware presided over a 2018 running backs group that helped Oklahoma lead the nation in yards per carry (6.6). Brooks ranked third nationally with 8.9 yards per rush (minimum 9.0 carries per game) and was a USA Today Freshman All-American (1,056 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns), while Sermon ran for 947 yards and 13 TDs.
Kicker/punter Austin Seibert, who in 2018 was named Oklahoma’s first-ever Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year, finished his career as the all-time FBS scoring leader among kickers, as his 499 points set school and Big 12 records. He went on to be drafted in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
In 2017, Oklahoma led the Big 12 with its 217.8 rushing yards per contest. Running back Rodney Anderson ranked 20th in rushing yards per carry with 6.28, 26th with 13 rushing touchdowns and 35th with 1,161 rushing yards.
Boulware oversaw one of the nation’s top running back tandems in 2015 and 2016, resulting in Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon both declaring for the 2017 NFL Draft. Perine, Oklahoma’s all-time rushing leader (4,122 yards), ran for 2,409 yards and 28 TDs after Boulware moved to running backs coach, while Mixon ran for 2,027 yards and 17 TDs his last two years. Mixon also caught 65 passes for 894 yards and nine TDs.
His 2015 punt unit led the nation by allowing just 1.09 yards per return (12 yards on 11 returns). Austin Seibert was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist.
Boulware served as tight ends coach at Oklahoma in 2013-14, helping former quarterback Blake Bell become a fourth-round draft pick as a tight end, a position he had never played prior to 2014. Fullbacks Trey Millard and Aaron Ripkowski were eventual NFL Draft picks.
On special teams, he mentored RB Alex Ross, who finished third in the nation on kickoff return yards (31.2 average) in 2014 and tied for second among FBS players with two kickoff return touchdowns. Kicker Michael Hunnicutt concluded his career under Boulware as the all-time leading scorer in Oklahoma history at that time with 450 points, which ranked sixth in FBS history. Hunnicutt made a Big 12-record 75 career field goals, set an Oklahoma single-season record with 24 made FGs in 2013 and was named a Lou Groza Award semifinalist.
The Sooners registered three special teams TDs in 2013, including one on a fake field goal in a 33-24 win at Oklahoma State. WR Jalen Saunders ranked ninth in the FBS with a 15.4-yard punt return average that year, and Oklahoma led the Big 12 and was eighth in the FBS with a 14.2 average, including two punt return touchdowns.
Boulware spent the previous four seasons (2009-12) at Auburn as tight ends coach and special teams coordinator, where he was part of head coach and former Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik's staff that inherited a team coming off a 5-7 record in 2008. Two seasons later, the Tigers posted a 14-0 record capped by a 22-19 win over Oregon in the BCS Championship Game. Boulware's star pupil at tight end while at Auburn was Philip Lutzenkirchen, a second-team All-SEC selection in 2011 who set the school's record for career touchdown receptions for a tight end with 14.
Boulware's punt coverage unit ranked second in the nation in 2012, allowing just four punt return yards on 70 punts. The Tigers also ranked third in the country in kickoff coverage that year, allowing 16.6 yards per return. Under Boulware's direction in 2011, Auburn led the SEC in kickoff return yards (1,264), kick return touchdowns (two), kickoff coverage (546 yards) and fewest punts returned (10).
Kicker Wes Byrum set an Auburn single-season record with 123 points in 2010, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. Auburn led the SEC and ranked ninth in the nation in punt coverage, allowing 4.6 yards per return that year, while also ranking 16th in the nation in kickoff coverage, permitting 19.7 yards per return.
In 2009, Byrum set a single-season school records for field goal percentage (93.8; 15-of-16) and PAT conversions and attempts (54). Boulware also guided RB Demond Washington to an Auburn single-season record with a 31.1-yard kickoff return average.
Boulware spent two seasons (2007-08) at Iowa State. The Cyclones ranked 12th nationally in kickoff returns in 2008 behind second-team freshman All-America kick returner Leonard Johnson. Johnson set an NCAA FBS record with 319 kickoff return yards against Oklahoma State. ISU was also second in the Big 12 Conference in punting that year.
In Boulware's first ISU season, newcomer tailbacks Alexander Robinson and J.J. Bass both posted a pair of 100-yard games. It marked the first time two different Cyclone running backs topped the century barrier twice in a single season since 2002.
Prior to Iowa State, Boulware worked for two seasons as tight ends coach/co-special teams coordinator at Utah (2005-06), and during the summer of 2004, he was part of the NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship Program with the San Francisco 49ers. While at Utah, his special teams units were among the Mountain West Conference leaders, including a Utah kickoff return unit that led the MWC in 2006. His time at Utah was preceded by a one-year stint as running backs coach at Stanford in 2004.
Boulware spent three seasons at Arizona as tight ends coach (2001), running backs coach (2002) and running backs coach/special teams coordinator (2003). During his tenure with the Wildcats he mentored running back Mike Bell who finished his collegiate career with 3,163 rushing yards, the third-highest total in school history.
Boulware received his initial full-time coaching assignment at Northern Illinois, where he coached tight ends (1997) and served as co-offensive line coach (1998-2000). One of his star pupils with the Huskies was Ryan Diem, who spent 11 seasons as an offensive lineman with the Indianapolis Colts.
Born in Oklahoma City, Boulware moved to Houston as a second grader and then to Irving five years later. He and his wife, Chantay, have one daughter, Jordin.
