Joseph John DeForest (born April 17, 1965) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He is the safeties coach at the

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

(NC State). DeForest played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the University of Southwestern Louisiana—now known as University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Early life and playing career

DeForest was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, and grew up in

Titusville, Florida Titusville is a city in eastern Florida and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida, United States. The city's population was 43,761 as of the 2010 United States Census. Titusville is located along the Indian River (Florida), Indian River, west ...

College

DeForest is a 1987 graduate of

University of Southwest Louisiana The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the se ...

with a bachelor's degree in marketing. He was a four-year starter and was twice named to the all-Southern and all-Louisiana independent teams. He also was a two-year letterman as a pitcher on the Ragin' Cajuns baseball squad. He received the inaugural President's Cup, signifying the University's top male athlete.

Professional

In 1987, DeForest was signed as a free agent but then released in the preseason by the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

and then signed and quickly released by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He finished his playing career with a brief appearance during the preseason for the Calgary Stampeders (CFL) before being cut in 1988.

Coaching career

DeForest served as an assistant coach at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

from 1994 to 2000, serving as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. He was hired by Les Miles in 2001 at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

as the special teams coordinator and secondary coach. He remained at Oklahoma State until 2012 and served as the associate head coach, special teams coordinator, and safeties coach. At Oklahoma State, he coached Matt Fodge, a

Ray Guy Award The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding punter as adjudged by the Augusta Sports Council. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National Foo ...

winner, and Dan Bailey, a Lou Groza Award winner. In 2012, he was hired by Dana Holgorsen to serve as the defensive coordinator at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

. Due to poor performance WVU fans jokingly renamed him "eForest," because of the lack of "D" or defense his unit displayed. Following his disastrous stint as defensive coordinator, he was demoted to special teams coordinator following the 2012 season. West Virginia fired DeForest in 2015; most WVU fans believe WVU never fully recovered from the damage he inflicted. On February 26, 2016, DeForest was hired as the special teams coach at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. In January 2018, DeForest was fired again. In March 2018,

Clay Helton Clay Charles Helton (born June 24, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player, who is currently the head coach at Georgia Southern. He was previously the head coach of USC from 2015 to 2021. Helton has also been an assistan ...

, head football coach at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(USC), hired DeForest as a defensive quality control assistant; in 2019, DeForest coached the safeties for USC. Both Helton and DeForest had previously served as assistant coaches together at Duke. Despite the friendship, USC fired DeForest for poor performance after the 2019 season. North Carolina State hired DeForest in 2020.

References

External links

NC State profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:DeForest, Joe 1965 births Living people American football linebackers American players of Canadian football Baseball pitchers Calgary Stampeders players Duke Blue Devils football coaches Houston Oilers players Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball players Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football players Kansas Jayhawks football coaches National Football League replacement players NC State Wolfpack football coaches New Orleans Saints players Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches Rice Owls football coaches USC Trojans football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches High school football coaches in Florida Titusville High School alumni Sportspeople from Teaneck, New Jersey Players of American football from Bergen County, New Jersey People from Titusville, Florida Players of American football from Brevard County, Florida Coaches of American football from Florida Baseball players from Florida