Team
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Joe Marciano Special Teams Coordinator 24th NFL season 8th with Texans |
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Joe Marciano enters his eighth season as special teams coordinator for the Texans. Regarded as one of the league’s top coaches in his field, Marciano has directed special teams for 23 NFL seasons. Marciano and running backs coach Chick Harris are the only two coaches to have been with the Texans since the team's inception in 2002.
The 2008 special teams unit was one of the most consistent and explosive in the NFL. Kicker Kris Brown turned in the best season of his career, setting franchise records for most points (124), made field goals (29) and field goal percentage (.879). His field goal percentage was a career-high, while his 124 points tied a career-high and the 29 field goals were his second-highest. Punt returner Jacoby Jones returned two punts for touchdowns, a franchise record, and finished third in the AFC with a 12.1-yard punt return average. Punter Matt Turk broke his own franchise mark with a 42.3-yard average on a record-low 53 attempts.
Marciano’s special teams unit provided many of the biggest highlights of the 2007 season, tying three NFL records. The Texans tied the NFL single-season record with four kickoff returns for touchdown on the season, becoming just the fourth team in league history to do so. WR André Davis tied another league record when he became the seventh player in history to return two kickoffs for touchdown in one game, doing so vs. Jacksonville in the season finale. Brown, who scored 115 points, became just the third kicker in league history to make three field goals of 50 yards or longer in one game when he did so vs. Miami on Oct. 7. P Matt Turk also set team records for gross and net punting average in his first season as a Texan, and the coverage unit held opponents to a record-low total of 151 punt return yards on the season.
Under Marciano’s guidance in 2006, P Chad Stanley posted the best gross punting average of his career, averaging 41.6 yards per punt, and Brown led the team in scoring for the fifth consecutive season. The Texans ranked sixth in the league in punt return average, at 10.5 yards per return, and the kick coverage team held opponents to the sixth-worst starting field position in the league.
Marciano’s tenure as special teams coordinator was highlighted during the 2005 season. Pro Bowl selection and AP first team All-Pro kick returner Jerome Mathis was also honored by the NFL Alumni as the Special Teams Player of the Year and the Texans Rookie of the Year. He finished the season ranked second in the league for return men, returning 54 kickoffs for 1,542 yards and two touchdowns. He was the only player in the NFL to return two kicks for scores that season.
Marciano helped Brown finish the 2005 season with 102 points, including 26 field goals, the second-most of his career. Stanley also had a stellar 2005 season, finishing with 29 punts inside the 20-yard line, the fourth most in the NFL. His 6.6 yard-per-return average also ranked sixth in the NFL.
In 2004, Brown set a club record with 85 points and nailed a career-high nine touchbacks. Second-year LB Antwan Peek had a breakout year with 18 special teams tackles and a blocked punt. Meanwhile, the Texans ranked seventh in the AFC in opponent average starting field position.
In 2003, Stanley led the NFL with 36 punts inside the 20 and his 36.7-yard net average ranked sixth in the league. Brown nailed 18 of 22 field goals, missing just one inside 50 yards. J.J. Moses ranked fifth in the AFC with a 23.4-yard kickoff-return average.
In 2002, Brown connected on 13 field goals from 40-plus yards and Stanley ranked second in the AFC in net average (36.8), leading the conference with 36 punts inside the 20. The Texans also scored two touchdowns on special teams (punt return, punt block), recovered three fumbles, and yielded just 5.7 yards per punt return, leading the AFC.
Marciano arrived in Houston after spending the previous six seasons in the same capacity with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Under Marciano, the Bucs boasted one of the NFC’s most consistent special teams units. Tampa Bay blocked 20 kicks, registered nine of the 10 longest punt and kickoff returns in club annals, and recorded 10 NFC Special Teams Player of the Week awards during his six seasons.
Kicker Martin Gramatica posted remarkable numbers during his first three NFL seasons. Gramatica nailed 84 of 101 field-goal attempts (counting playoffs) and earned a Pro Bowl berth in 2000, breaking his own club single-season records in points scored (126), field goals (28), consecutive field goals (16), 50-plus-yard field goals (5), and extra points (42). Also in 2000, Tampa Bay set a team mark and tied a league mark by blocking seven kicks (four field goals, three punts), returning two for touchdowns.
In 1999, linebacker Shelton Quarles broke a 10-year Bucs single-season record with 31 special teams tackles. Tampa Bay opponents averaged just 17.6 yards per kickoff return, which set a club record. In 1998, Marciano’s charges set single-season club marks in both kickoff return average (23.7) and punt-return average (13.7). In 1997, the Bucs finished first in the NFL in opponent net punting and opponent field-goal percentage.
Marciano joined the Bucs after spending the previous 10 years as the special teams coach for the New Orleans Saints. For the first nine of those campaigns, he also coached the team’s tight ends. During Marciano’s New Orleans tenure, he coached three special teams players who were selected for the Pro Bowl (Morten Andersen, Tyrone Hughes, Bennie Thompson).
Marciano’s first professional football job came as the special teams/tight ends coach for the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars of the USFL, helping the club win two league championships. Marciano joined the Stars after spending 1982 as the tight ends/special teams coach at Temple.
In 1981, Marciano tutored the tight ends for Joe Paterno at Penn State. Marciano also coached wide receivers at Villanova (1980) and Rhode Island (1978-79). He began his college coaching career overseeing the tight ends at East Stroudsburg University in 1977. Marciano coached at Wyoming Area High School in West Pittston, Pa., in 1976.
A native of Dunmore, Pa., Marciano was a quarterback at Temple, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. He serves as a spokesperson for Autism Speaks and is very active in the organization’s annual fundraising walk held each fall in Houston. Marciano is an avid fisherman who has conducted various fishing tournaments and has appeared on numerous ESPN fishing shows. In 1993, Marciano was inducted into the Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. He is single and resides in Missouri City with his son, Joseph.
MARCIANO’S COACHING LEDGER
2002-09: Special Teams Coordinator, Houston Texans
1996-01: Special Teams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1995: Special Teams, New Orleans Saints
1986-94: Special Teams/Tight Ends, New Orleans Saints
1983-85: Special Teams/Tight Ends, Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars
1982: Special Teams/Tight Ends, Temple
1981: Tight Ends, Penn State
1980: Wide Receivers, Villanova
1978-79: Wide Receivers, Rhode Island
1977: Tight Ends, East Stroudsburg State
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