Joe DeForest


Joseph John DeForest is an American football coach and former player. He is the safeties coach at the North Carolina State University. DeForest played college football at the University of Southwestern Louisiana—now known as University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He played briefly as a professionally, appearing in the three game for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League in 1987.

Early life and playing career

DeForest was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, and grew up in Titusville, Florida.

College

DeForest is a 1987 graduate of University of Southwest Louisiana 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 and then signed and quickly released by the New Orleans Saints. He finished his playing career with a brief appearance during the preseason for the Calgary Stampeders before being cut in 1988.

Coaching career

DeForest served as an assistant coach at Duke as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator. He was hired by Les Miles in 2001 at Oklahoma State University 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. Under his tutelage, he coached Matt Fodge, a Ray Guy Award winner and Dan Bailey, a Lou Groza Award winner. He also coached and recruited several NFL players including Darrent Williams, Jacob Lacey, Markelle Martin, Dan Bailey, Ryan Fowler, Patrick Mannelly and Russell Okung,. 2012, In 2012, he was hired by Dana Holgorsen to serve as the defensive coordinator for the West Virginia University Mountaineers. He was reassigned to an associate head coach position and special teams coordinator following the 2012 season. DeForest's contract with WVU was not renewed in January 2016.
On Friday, February 26, 2016, DeForest was hired as the new special teams coach at the University of Kansas. In January 2018, Kansas announced that DeForest was not being retained.
In March 2018, USC Head Coach Clay Helton hired DeForest as a Defensive Quality Control Assistant. Both Helton and DeForest had previously served as assistant coaches together at Duke.