Just who is Jay Boulware, the latest hire by Bob Stoops to coach the tight ends and special teams?
For starters, he is a Longhorn. He was an offensive tackle for Texas in 1991-95. Can’t find any information if he was a starter or not, but he’s definitely a Longhorn. I guess we shouldn’t chastise him for that now that he has come over to the good guys. The Burnt Orange fans probably see things differently.
After he got a degree in Austin, he hung around and coached tight ends as a graduate assistant for the Steers from 1994-96. Pat Fitzgerald was one of his pupils. (No, not the one who coaches Northwestern.) Fitzgerald was an AP All-American in 1996, so there’s that.
Boulware went on to Northern Illinois to coach tight ends and offensive line from 1997-2000, but none of his players received any accolades. Arizona hired him away in 2001 to coach tight ends, running backs and special teams for three seasons. None of his players received any honors there, either.
He spent the next year as Stanford’s running backs coach and then moved on to coach TEs and special teams at Utah for two years (2005-06). Nope, no studs at either of these schools, either.
Boulware coached running backs and special teams the next two years at Iowa State. Nothing to crow about here, either.
From 2009-12, Boulware tutored the TEs and special teams at Auburn. The Tigers won the national championship in 2010. The only honor among Boulware’s charges those four years went to Auburn’s punter – Pro Football Weekly named Steven Clark to its All-American team in 2011. (Why a pro football publication gets involved in college football’s business is beyond me.)
Last year, the Tigers’ Philip Lutzenkirchen was a first-team All-SEC selection at tight end. Maybe that’s a start.
Boulware’s longest tenure: those four years at Auburn. He was hired in January as an assistant at Wisconsin before jumping ship and heading to Norman. Makes you wonder how long will he stay a Sooner.