Tyler Schovanec - Special Teams Analyst - Football Support Staff

Tyler Schovanec

Title:
Special Teams Analyst

Tyler Schovanec enters his third season on the Texas Tech coaching staff and his first as an assistant special teams coordinator and specialist coach. He was previously a special teams analyst prior to his promotion before the 2024 season.

The Red Raiders have ranked among the nation’s top special teams units during Schovanec’s two seasons back on the Red Raider sideline. Texas Tech ranked in the top 20 nationally of four special teams statistical categories in 2023 alone, finishing second in punt return average (19.5), sixth in kick return average (25.5), 10th in blocked kicks (3) and 19th for net punting (41.5). The Red Raiders previously ranked ninth in 2022 for kick return defense and inside the top 25 for both blocked kicks and kick return average.

That success has been the result of a strong core of specialists in punter Austin McNamara and a pair of kickers in Trey Wolff and Gino Garcia. Wolff was among the most accurate kickers in college football in his lone season under Perry and Schovanec in 2022 as he connected on 21-of-25 field goal attempts, which ranked second all-time in Texas Tech single-season history.

An honorable mention All-Big 12 selection, Wolff was reliable in key situations throughout the 2022 season as he had nine field goals that came with under a minute remaining in the second or fourth quarters or in overtime. He had two game-winning kicks during the season, sending the Red Raiders to memorable come-from-behind victories over both Texas and Oklahoma for the first time in program history. He later signed a free agent agreement with the Tennessee Titans after an impressive showing at his Pro Day.

Garcia followed Wolff with honorable mention All-Big 12 accolades of his own after connecting on 16-of-22 attempts this past season, including an impressive 9-of-10 field goal tries during Big 12 play. Garcia, who played for Schovanec earlier in each of their respective careers at Houston Baptist, used his strong leg to become the first Red Raider in program history to connect on three field goals of at least 50 yards or longer in a season.

McNamara, meanwhile, solidified his spot as the most-successful punter in school history as he was tabbed the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year as a senior in 2023. McNamara, also a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award and an All-Big 12 first team selection that same season, wrapped his career with a 45.91 career average, the highest in Texas Tech and Big 12 Conference history and the 10th-highest in the NCAA FBS record book.

McNamara also matched the FBS record by averaging at least 40.0 yards per attempt over 37 career games (minimum of four punts each game to qualify). McNamara averaged 46.3 yards per punt during his final season, marking his fifth mark that ranked in the top 10 in school history. He later signed a free agent agreement with the Cincinnati Bengals organization where he is expected to compete for the punter position leading into the 2024 NFL season.

This is Schovanec’s third stint on the Texas Tech staff as he was previously a special teams quality control coach and personnel assistant for the Red Raiders in 2017. Prior to that, he was an intern to then football chief of staff Kenny Bell during the summers of 2013-15, assisting with many of the day-to-day operations of the football program.

In between, Schovanec was an offensive graduate assistant at Case Western University in 2016 where he served as running backs coach. During his lone season, running back Jacob Burke earned second team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference honors after rushing for more than 1,000 yards while also ranking 18th in Division III with 16 touchdowns.

Schovanec joined the coaching staff after rounding out his playing career as a two-sport athlete in both baseball and football. The baseball program earned a berth to the 2016 NCAA Division III playoffs during his lone season. He previously played both sports at Carroll University in Wisconsin prior to transferring to Case Western for his senior season.

Schovanec received his first full-time coaching position at Houston Baptist in 2018 where he was the special teams coordinator and running backs coordinator for four seasons. Schovanec coached alongside Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley for three of those seasons as Houston Baptist developed into one of the top offenses at the FCS level.

On special teams, Garcia set the HBU career records with 32 field goals and 84 extra points made over his three seasons as well as the single-season mark after finding the uprights 18 times during the 2019 campaign. Garcia was a first team All-Southland Conference honoree in 2021 as one of several Huskies who garnered all-conference accolades under Schovanec.

Kick returner Gamar Girdy Brito, who, like Garcia, set the HBU career marks for kick return yards and all-purpose yards, collected STATS FCS and Hero Sports All-America honors in 2019 to close his career as well as first team All-Southland Conference accolades. Punter Blake Patterson, meanwhile, was a two-time honoree as a second team selection in 2019 and a first team honoree the following year.

Schovanec, a native of Lubbock, received his bachelor’s of science in business administration and management from Carroll in 2015 and a master’s in management and finance from Case Western in 2017.

Schovanec married the former Sarah Gray in May 2024.