There's a long history of Texas high school coaches moving up to coordinator jobs at the Division I level -- on offense, where the state has been at the forefront of evolution from the Wishbone to the Spread. It doesn't happen as often on special teams.
But that's the case at Houston Christian, where sources tell FootballScoop that the FCS school has hired Austin Westlake High School special teams coordinator Blake Dunham to the same position.
In four seasons at Westlake, Dunham helped the Chaparrals go 58-4 with one state championship and one state title game appearance. The Chaps broke 20 school records along the way, many of them multiple times. For instance, the previous school record for single-season punt return average was 18.7; three players have since bested that, all of them by at least five yards. The previous school record for punt return touchdowns, was two; in 2022, one Chaparral took two punts back for a touchdown in a single game, and a different player returned five punts for scores that season.
"His IQ when it comes to special teams is right there with the elites, especially in high school football," Westlake head coach Tony Salazar told FootballScoop. "He's one of the most prepared coaches I've ever worked with, and his passion for special teams is infectious. He's a tremendous coach, a tremendous dad, and the sky's the limit for him."
Prior to Westlake, Dunham was the special teams coordinator at Argyle (Texas) High School from 2017-20. He worked with Houston Christian head coach Jason Bechtel in 2020, a year that saw the Eagles go 16-0 en route to a state championship. "I know who he is as a person and I know what he stands for, and I know we'll be sound in the kicking game," Bechtel told FootballScoop.
In 2024, Westlake's drives began at the 34-yard line on average after kickoff returns and at the 50 after punt returns; their opponents began at the 23 and the 21-yard lines, respectively. Salazar said Dunham's level of detail and skill in teaching has led opponents to not even attempt to compete in certain phases of the game.
"When you're at Westlake, your fortunate enough to play 15, 16 games every season. Lots of weeks, especially when you get deep in the playoffs, the left kick returner is going to Colorado, the right kick returner's going to Auburn. There's teams that don't even try to return kicks against us. Blake has so many formations, and does a good job teaching the kids that they can execute so many formations, that they decide it's not worth the time preparing for all those looks, so they won't even try to return kicks."
In the state semifinal against Houston North Shore this past December, Westlake kicked off to North Shore kick returners Devin Sanchez (an Ohio State signee) and Nigel Pringle (Arkansas) six times. The pair did not return a kickoff past the 16-yard line.
Since 2020, Dunham's punt return units have averaged 18.7 yards per return, blocked 36 punts, and scored 20 touchdowns, while the punt unit has yielded less than two yards per return while forcing 10 turnovers. His kick return teams have averaged 29 yards per return with six touchdowns, while the kickoff team has permitted just 11 yards per return while forcing 15 turnovers. His units have also blocked 17 kicks, with a single-season high of eight.
"He spends the time to teach so many people how to block kicks. Not only is it a great scheme, he's a good enough teacher to teach many different players the execution of how to block a kick. When teams play us, it's not one kid they have to worry about blocking kicks, it's the whole team."
Dunham joins an HCU staff coming off a 5-7 campaign in Year 1 under Bechtel. The Huskies were 83rd in FCS in net punting, 47th in punt returns and fifth in kickoff returns.
"We want somebody who's going to be aggressive and match our style of play on offense and defense," Bachtel said.