Completed Event: Football at Michigan on September 12, 2026 , Loss , 10, to, 17
Final
Football
10
at Michigan
17
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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Doug Deakin - Football
Doug Deakin
- Title:
- Special Teams Coordinator
• Doug Deakin was hired as Oklahoma’s senior special teams analyst prior to the 2024 season, Doug Deakin was promoted to special teams
coordinator in the spring of 2025.
• Under Deakin’s direction, the Sooners ranked 41st in 2024 and 10th in 2025 in ESPN’s special teams efficiency ratings after ranking 127th the year before his arrival.
• Coached first-team All-America placekicker Tate Sandell, who became OU’s first winner of the Lou Groza Award in 2025. Sandell set or tied eight career or single-season school, conference, FBS or stadium records during the 2025 campaign. Additionally, the Sooners ranked 22nd nationally in punt return average (12.5 yards per return) and 27th in kickoff return defense (17.6 yards per return) and blocked two kicks (22nd
nationally). Punter Grayson Miller (first-team All-SEC) led the SEC and ranked 13th nationally in punting average (45.8 yards) and punt returner Isaiah Sategna III (second-team All-SEC) ranked 10th nationally by averaging 13.3 yards per punt return.
• Guided OU’s 2024 special teams that ranked 12th nationally in net punting (42.3 average) and 26th in punt return defense (4.9 yards per return). Punter Luke Elzinga ranked 15th nationally in yards per punt (44.8).
• Joined the Oklahoma staff after spending 17 seasons at San Diego State between his time as a student-athlete and a coach. He was San Diego State’s special teams coordinator from 2018-23 and also served as tight ends coach during the 2018 campaign.
• Oversaw some of the nation’s best special teams units and individual performers in the country in his time at San Diego State. Four of his six units ranked in the top 10 nationally in ESPN’s special teams efficiency rating. SDSU ranked 10th in 2019, fifth in 2021, second in 2022 and ninth in 2023 (and 55th in 2018 and 2020).
• Tutored Ray Guy Award winner Matt Araiza, who earned unanimous All-America honors and was named the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year in 2021. Araiza set FBS records for punt average (51.2), 60-yard punts (18) and 50-yard punts (39), and booted six punts of at least 70 yards. SDSU blocked three punts during the 2021 season.
• Under Deakin’s guidance, Jack Browning earned Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year and first-team all-conference honors in 2022 after averaging 46.3 yards per punt to rank fourth nationally. Additionally, Jordan Byrd ranked seventh in the country with his 689 combined kick return yards and was the only player in the nation to return both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown. He earned first-team All-Mountain
West honors as both a kickoff and punt returner.
• In 2023, Browning ranked 17th nationally in punting average (43.4 average) and was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist. Kenan Christon averaged 22.1 yards per kickoff return to tie for 37th nationally and punt returner Mekhi Shaw ranked 37th nationally by averaging 7.2 yards per punt return.
• Under Deakin’s leadership, San Diego State’s team punting average rose from 125th in the season before he moved into the special team coordinator role to 51st in 2018. In 2019, he oversaw a punting unit that ranked 14th nationally by averaging 45.2 yards per punt. In 2020, the punting unit ranked ninth in the nation by averaging 45.95 yards per punt, and in 2021 led the nation with its 49.95 average.
• In 2019, San Diego State ranked 29th nationally in kickoff returns (22.9 average), and in 2020 ranked 12th in kickoff returns (26.7 average) and 26th in punt returns (10.7 average). Punter Tanner Kuljian led the Mountain West and ranked eighth nationally in 2020 by averaging 45.4 yards per punt while Jordan Byrd led the Mountain West and ranked seventh in the nation in kickoff return average (31.9 yards per return). Brandon Heicklen ranked 15th nationally in punting in 2019 (45.2 average) while Araiza ranked 24th in the nation in field goal percentage, making 22 of 26 attempts (84.6%).
• Deakin was a football operations assistant at SDSU from 2015-17 and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant from 2011-14 working with the defense and special teams.
• Was a walk-on student-athlete at San Diego State who played in 24 games over his last two collegiate seasons (2009-10), serving as the team’s holder on placekicks. He was selected as a team captain by his teammates for his senior season. Earned Mountain West Conference all-academic honors in 2009 and in 2008 was awarded the SDSU President’s Award for highest standards of academic and athletic excellence.
• A native of Oak Park, Calif., he received his undergraduate degree in business management from San Diego State in 2010 and his master’s in educational leadership in 2014.
coordinator in the spring of 2025.
• Under Deakin’s direction, the Sooners ranked 41st in 2024 and 10th in 2025 in ESPN’s special teams efficiency ratings after ranking 127th the year before his arrival.
• Coached first-team All-America placekicker Tate Sandell, who became OU’s first winner of the Lou Groza Award in 2025. Sandell set or tied eight career or single-season school, conference, FBS or stadium records during the 2025 campaign. Additionally, the Sooners ranked 22nd nationally in punt return average (12.5 yards per return) and 27th in kickoff return defense (17.6 yards per return) and blocked two kicks (22nd
nationally). Punter Grayson Miller (first-team All-SEC) led the SEC and ranked 13th nationally in punting average (45.8 yards) and punt returner Isaiah Sategna III (second-team All-SEC) ranked 10th nationally by averaging 13.3 yards per punt return.
• Guided OU’s 2024 special teams that ranked 12th nationally in net punting (42.3 average) and 26th in punt return defense (4.9 yards per return). Punter Luke Elzinga ranked 15th nationally in yards per punt (44.8).
• Joined the Oklahoma staff after spending 17 seasons at San Diego State between his time as a student-athlete and a coach. He was San Diego State’s special teams coordinator from 2018-23 and also served as tight ends coach during the 2018 campaign.
• Oversaw some of the nation’s best special teams units and individual performers in the country in his time at San Diego State. Four of his six units ranked in the top 10 nationally in ESPN’s special teams efficiency rating. SDSU ranked 10th in 2019, fifth in 2021, second in 2022 and ninth in 2023 (and 55th in 2018 and 2020).
• Tutored Ray Guy Award winner Matt Araiza, who earned unanimous All-America honors and was named the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year in 2021. Araiza set FBS records for punt average (51.2), 60-yard punts (18) and 50-yard punts (39), and booted six punts of at least 70 yards. SDSU blocked three punts during the 2021 season.
• Under Deakin’s guidance, Jack Browning earned Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year and first-team all-conference honors in 2022 after averaging 46.3 yards per punt to rank fourth nationally. Additionally, Jordan Byrd ranked seventh in the country with his 689 combined kick return yards and was the only player in the nation to return both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown. He earned first-team All-Mountain
West honors as both a kickoff and punt returner.
• In 2023, Browning ranked 17th nationally in punting average (43.4 average) and was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist. Kenan Christon averaged 22.1 yards per kickoff return to tie for 37th nationally and punt returner Mekhi Shaw ranked 37th nationally by averaging 7.2 yards per punt return.
• Under Deakin’s leadership, San Diego State’s team punting average rose from 125th in the season before he moved into the special team coordinator role to 51st in 2018. In 2019, he oversaw a punting unit that ranked 14th nationally by averaging 45.2 yards per punt. In 2020, the punting unit ranked ninth in the nation by averaging 45.95 yards per punt, and in 2021 led the nation with its 49.95 average.
• In 2019, San Diego State ranked 29th nationally in kickoff returns (22.9 average), and in 2020 ranked 12th in kickoff returns (26.7 average) and 26th in punt returns (10.7 average). Punter Tanner Kuljian led the Mountain West and ranked eighth nationally in 2020 by averaging 45.4 yards per punt while Jordan Byrd led the Mountain West and ranked seventh in the nation in kickoff return average (31.9 yards per return). Brandon Heicklen ranked 15th nationally in punting in 2019 (45.2 average) while Araiza ranked 24th in the nation in field goal percentage, making 22 of 26 attempts (84.6%).
• Deakin was a football operations assistant at SDSU from 2015-17 and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant from 2011-14 working with the defense and special teams.
• Was a walk-on student-athlete at San Diego State who played in 24 games over his last two collegiate seasons (2009-10), serving as the team’s holder on placekicks. He was selected as a team captain by his teammates for his senior season. Earned Mountain West Conference all-academic honors in 2009 and in 2008 was awarded the SDSU President’s Award for highest standards of academic and athletic excellence.
• A native of Oak Park, Calif., he received his undergraduate degree in business management from San Diego State in 2010 and his master’s in educational leadership in 2014.
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