| December 3 | at Oregon | 6:00 PM |
| 
|
Bruce Read returns for his third tenure as the special teams coach at Oregon State. His previous stays included the 1997-98 and 2004-06 seasons. Read has coached special teams in the NFL for three teams, 2007-08 with the Dallas Cowboys, 2002-03 with the New York Giants and 1999-2001 with the San Diego Chargers. Read is arguably the best special teams coach in the history of Oregon State and his last Beaver unit in 2006 is considered one of the best ever. Sammie Stroughter earned third team All-American honors in part for his punt return abilities and placekicker Alexis Serna garnered second team All-Pac-10. Stroughter set the school record with three punt returns for touchdowns in 2006 and Serna, at the time, had a school record 106 consecutive made extra point attempts - he eventually made 144 consecutively. In 2005 Read coached First Team All-Pac-10 selections punter Sam Paulescu and Serna. Serna was the '05 recipient of the Lou Groza Award, recognizing the nation's premier kicker, and an Associated Press Second Team All-American. Read spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons as the special teams coach for the New York Giants of the National Football League. During the `03 season, the Giants improved in six of eight statistical special teams categories. Read accompanied Riley to San Diego in 1999 to coach the Chargers' special teams. The Chargers led the NFL in 2001 with a kickoff return average of 26.0 yards - 4.4 yards more than the NFL average for that season. Ronny Jenkins led the league with a 26.6 yards per kickoff return average and scored two touchdowns. For his career with the Chargers, the team consistently rated above the average mark in most statistical categories, and in his first year with the club the team improved 18 spots in the NFL's special teams category to sixth. In 2001 the Chargers were third for special teams and punter Darren Bennett played in the Pro Bowl. While at Oregon State during his first tenure, Beaver special teams units blocked 15 kicks. During the 1998 season, OSU was second in the Pac-10 with a .654 (17-26) field goal percentage and was third for kickoff return average at 23.1 yards. In 1997, kicker Jose Cortez ranked tied for third for field goal conversions with 11. Read began his coaching career in 1985 working alongside his father, head coach Don Read at the University of Montana. He was named a full-time assistant in 1987, where he would serve the next 10 years as a special teams coach. While at Montana the program broke over 30 records for special teams, and blocked 27 punts and 22 kicks. Montana claimed three Big Sky Conference titles (1993, '95, '96) and won the 1995 NCAA Division I-AA title. Read is a 1986 graduate of Portland State with a bachelor's degree in social science. He and his wife Christina, have two sons, Justin and Joshua. READ PROFILE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE OSU HIGHLIGHTS |
 
|
|||||||||||
