Jump to content

Breaking: North Texas Hires Special Teams Guru Svoboda From Alabama

TheReal_jayD

By TheReal_jayD
in Mean Green Football

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

meangreenbob
meangreenbob

Don’t spoil it by using the Lord’s name in vain. 

TheReal_jayD
TheReal_jayD

Yes Morris has a larger assistant pool. That is why he turned down the Texas State job was due to assistant pool not being high enough. 

TheReal_jayD
TheReal_jayD

Posted Images

  • Popular Post
TheReal_jayD Grand Master

TheReal_jayD

Posted
  • Author
  • Popular Post
Posted

Drew Svoboda was hired in March of 2021 by Alabama head coach Nick Saban to coach tight ends and coordinate special teams for the Crimson Tide.  

After a successful run as a high school coach in the Houston area, Svoboda is beginning his fourth year in the collegiate ranks after three seasons at Rice. He spent the 2018 campaign as the Owls running backs coach before two years as the special teams coordinator (2019-20). Before joining the Crimson Tide, Svoboda coached at Memphis in the spring of 2021 as the Tigers' special teams coordinator.

At Alabama, Svoboda will inherit tight ends Jahleel Billingsley, Major Tennison and Cameron Latu along with incoming freshmen Caden Clark and Robbie Ouzts. On special teams, the Tide returns Lou Groza Award semifinalist Will Reichard, who was a perfect 98 for 98 on field goal and PAT attempts last season.

At Rice in 2020, Svoboda's Owls played five games in the middle of the pandemic with the special teams producing at a high level. The place-kickers connected on 9-of-12 field goals while the punting unit averaged 42.8 yards per punt. Rice ranked 14th nationally in total special teams rankings in 2020 by Pro Football Focus.

Faced with the challenge of replacing the C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year (Jack Fox) as well as kicker Haden Tabola in 2019, Svoboda's replacements surpassed their efforts. Former walk-on Chris Barnes earned second team all-conference honors while averaging 44.8 yard per punt and he combined to grad transfer Adam Nunez to rank fourth nationally in special teams grades from Pro Football Focus. Rice was second in the conference and 18th nationally in ESPN's specialty teams efficiency rankings and their 63.1 rating was the third highest in program history. They were second in C-USA in both net Punting and punt return defense, finishing 17th and 14th nationally in both categories. Austin Trammell ranked fourth in C-USA in punt and kick returns and the Owls ranked fourth in punt returns the conference overall with a 9.2-yard average while long snapper Cameron Riddle earned honorable mention All-Conference USA honors.    

In 2018, he coached the Rice running backs and saw his runners top 100 yards four times, capped by Juma Otoviano's freshman record 224-yard effort against Old Dominion in the season finale. Senior Emmanuel Esukpa topped 100 yards in two of the first three games, including 173 yards in the season opener vs. Prairie View A&M, the most by an Owl in an opener since Trevor Cobb had 191 in 1991. Fellow senior Austin Walter concluded his career joining Cobb as the only players in school history to have 1,500 yards rushing, 500 yards receiving and 1,000 kick return yards in their career before signing as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers.

Svoboda made the jump to collegiate coaching in 2018 after guiding Klein Collins High School to five district championships, eight playoff appearances and a 93-24 record in 10 seasons as head coach of the Tigers. His .795 winning percentage ranked sixth among active Texas 6A head coaches at the end of the 2017 season.

He took over a program that was 1-9 the season prior to his arrival (2008) and two years later led them to a 12-1 mark and a district championship. For his efforts, he earned the first of five Touchdown Club of Houston Coach of the Year finalist awards as well as five District 15 6A Coach of the Year honors and the Houston Texans NFL High School Coach of the Year honors.

Svoboda was named Dave Campbell's Texas Football Preseason 6A Coach of the year in 2017 after leading Klein Collins to the state semifinals in 2016. He was also tabbed by VYPE Magazine as its Houston Football Coach of the Year in 2016. Prior to that season, he coached the East Team in the Bayou Bowl High School All-Star game.

Svoboda served on the President of the Greater Houston Greater Houston Football Coaches Association and was on the Board of Directors for the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA), serving as one of the Region Five Directors.

Svoboda was a tight end and fullback and two-time Academic All-Southland Conference at Stephen F. Austin. He helped lead the Lumberjacks to the 1999 Southland Conference title. He is a 1995 graduate of Tomball high school, where he lettered in football and track.

Svoboda and his wife, Kristi, are the parents of two children, daughter Austyn and son Jack.

  • Upvote 8
  • Lovely Take 1
  • Thanks 1
  • Popular Post
Side.Show.Joe Grand Master

Side.Show.Joe

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted
Just now, UNT Texas Hooligan said:

What the hell is Morris cooking!?!?! God dam, what a staff this is turning out to be

He said he was building the best staff in college football. I'm starting to believe he was serious about that statement. 

  • Upvote 7
  • Lovely Take 1
  • Thanks 1
UNT Texas Hooligan Grand Master

UNT Texas Hooligan

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

He said he was building the best staff in college football. I'm starting to believe he was serious about that statement. 

Goddam I can’t wait to see the recruits all of these guys are going to pull in!!!

  • Upvote 7
  • Thanks 1
  • Pissed 1
  • Downvote 2
  • Popular Post
meangreenbob Veteran

meangreenbob

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted
5 minutes ago, UNT Texas Hooligan said:

What the hell is Morris cooking!?!?! God dam, what a staff this is turning out to be

Don’t spoil it by using the Lord’s name in vain. 

  • Upvote 24
  • Thanks 3
  • Confused 1
  • Oh Boy! 4
  • Eye Roll 6
  • Downvote 9
Moobs Experienced

Moobs

Posted
Posted (edited)

Here is his salary from last year. Really makes you wonder how much did we have to pay him? 😮
This staff is getting ridiculously crazy and I love it!

3F2D8252-5E3C-4031-A398-B1018A0C0827.jpeg

Edited by Moobs
  • Upvote 4
  • Thanks 1
p_phelps Veteran

p_phelps

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

We have West Texas connections in our HC, now Dallas and Houston ( coming from Texas & Alabama). Find a coach with East Texas ties and we are looking good 

I know a safety coach in East Texas right now 

  • Upvote 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Eye Roll 1
helix Enthusiast

helix

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Moobs said:

Last years salary. How much did we have to pay him? 😮
This staff is getting ridiculously crazy. I love it!

3F2D8252-5E3C-4031-A398-B1018A0C0827.jpeg

I do wonder how big the Brinks truck is that Morris was given.

  • Upvote 1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Tell a friend

    Love GoMeanGreen.com? Tell a friend!

  • What's going on Mean Green?

    1. 2

      Mensah Getting $8 Million NIL Deal

      Yeah, take that all out, and he'll still probably make triple the next two years what I'll make my entire life.
      • 1
      • Upvote
      Mean Green 93-98 in Mean Green Football
    2. 15

      Myrtle Beach Bowl

      I love bowl week and we finally got a great game in Boise. What a fun year for NIU. A win over Notre Dame and double overtime win to end the year. They showed some stones on those 2 drives in overtime. Love their style of play. Wish they were a slightly better fit for the American. They are Midwest hearty at our level. A solid G5. I’ve teetered back and forth about our game, swinging from we’ll get blown out with no Morris, to let’s do this. Get this bowl win in January 2025. My hope comes from our battle testing. We played some solid teams and played them fair to well. Army was strong when we got them, Tulane was legit until the end, San Antonio got hot when we got them, same with ECU. Memphis was Memphis. We beat the SBC and MWC. I don’t know. The SBC seems a bit shakier in ‘24 and we were grilled all season. We may be just as good as TSU and surprise. Viva the American. GMG
      NM Green in Mean Green Football
    3. 2

      Mensah Getting $8 Million NIL Deal

      Tax, Agent Fee, post-collegiate medical insurance (sans going to NFL) and no... this guy will be working like most the rest of us lol
      • 1
      • Skeptical Eagle
      All About UNT in Mean Green Football
    4. 38

      Stop Blaming Athletes and the NCAA for Ruining College Football

      Especially when (and yes I keep harping on this same thing) the whole thing started because players were initially claiming they should have a share of the revenues generated from the use of their N.I.L. in broadcasts and video games. It's interesting that the ONLY share they've gotten from those is the $600 EA Sports money and NO TV revenue. Regarding "trickle down", that's gonna' be hard to do when most schools are LOSING money on FB. https://www.on3.com/nil/news/what-is-nil-everything-you-need-to-know-about-this-major-change-in-college-athletics/ You're right about the chaos and I'm all for MORE of it in order finally force some kind of sanity to this whole thing.
      meaniegreenie in Mean Green Football
    5. 15

      Myrtle Beach Bowl

      I couldn't tell you what Bowl most of the P2s played in last year either. Didn't care, still don't. The whole Bowl era is outdated. They should just scrape it and go to a larger playoff of 32 teams.
      • 1
      • Downvote
      NT80 in Mean Green Football

  • Popular Contributors

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      15,505
    • Most Online
      1,865
    Jepper
    Newest Member
    Jepper
    Joined

  • Most Points

    1. 1
      El Paso Eagle
      El Paso Eagle
      170,244
    2. 2
      NT80
      NT80
      137,193
    3. 3
      KingDL1
      KingDL1
      131,110
    4. 4
      greenminer
      greenminer
      123,910
    5. 5
      TheReal_jayD
      TheReal_jayD
      108,904

  • Biggest Gamblers

    1. 1
      EdtheEagle
      EdtheEagle
      26,591,107
    2. 2
      UNTLifer
      UNTLifer
      4,480,984
    3. 3
      untphd
      untphd
      841,161
    4. 4
      flyonthewall
      flyonthewall
      670,422
    5. 5
      3_n_out
      3_n_out
      578,480
    6. 6
      SteaminWillieBeamin
    7. 7
      cousin oliver
      cousin oliver
      448,120
    8. 8
      UNT_FH_FR_YR
      UNT_FH_FR_YR
      389,039
    9. 9
      meangreenfaninno
    10. 10
      South Texas Green

WE BELIEVE IN THE MEAN GREEN!

News

Recruiting

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Please review our full Privacy Policy before using our site.