Craig Coffin (2002-06) reflects on record-setting kicking career

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Craig Coffin (2002-06) didn’t start kicking footballs until his junior year of high school in Fort Myers, Florida. A game-winning 57-yard field goal caught the eye of an assistant coach from Southern Illinois, and the rest was history.

During four years as Southern’s kicker, and occasional rugby-style punter, Coffin became the school’s career scoring leader with 379 points, a record that still stands today. His long list of individual accomplishments includes two-time All-American, Saluki Hall of Fame, SIU’s All-Century Team and the Missouri Valley Football Conference’s 40th Anniversary Team (he ranks sixth all-time in scoring in conference history).

SIU posted a 38-12 record during Coffin’s career, with four I-AA Playoff appearances and three conference championships.

Coffin currently lives with his wife and son in the UK, where he works as materials manager for PXG Golf, a manufacturer of custom-fitted golf equipment.

StrongDawgs Conversation with Craig Coffin

SD: So you didn't start kicking footballs until high school?

CC: Yeah, so I had played soccer my whole life, and in my sophomore year of high school, one of the football coaches asked me to try out. I told him, nah, it's not for me. That spring, I went with my dad to watch the football jamboree, and the guy missed about a 30-yard field goal. I told my dad, “I could do that.” And he said, “well, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?”

So I did, I started playing my junior year. I didn't have any thought of trying to kick in college at the time. It just gave me something else to do before soccer season, which is played in the wintertime in Florida.

SD: You were first-team all-state in soccer in high school. What made you decide to play football in college, rather than soccer?

CC: A Division II school asked me about playing both soccer and football in college, but I had played club soccer year-round since I was 12 years old. I was just burned out with soccer, so by my senior year, I had decided to play football.

SD: How did you end up at SIU?

CC: I took visits to Campbell University and Eastern Kentucky, and went on an unofficial visit to Clemson. I kicked in a high school all-star game after the season, and one of Southern’s coaches, Tom Matukewicz, was there watching. I think he was there to see some other players, but I made a 57-yard field goal in the game. SIU reached out a week later.

Coffin with holder Courtney Abbott

SD: What do you remember about your official visit?

CC: I went up in February with some other guys from Florida and loved it. I ate way too much on the visit, out at Giant City Lodge and Mary Lou's. The campus was beautiful. It just felt like Coach Kill, his staff, and the other players that I met on my visit, it was going the right direction. The mentality was there. I remember calling my parents from the St. Louis airport and telling them this is where I want to go to school.

SD: You came in and started as a true freshman in 2002, played the first two games and then you broke your toe. How did that happen?

CC: I was in an open competition with Scott Everhart, who’s also from Florida. He's got a massive leg, very good at kickoffs and long field goals. They decided I was going to do the shorter field goals, 40-and-in, and extra points, and Scott would handle the longer kicks.

One day in practice, we did a drill where they come off the edge and practice their aiming point for blocking kicks, taking the ball off your foot. Nothing real aggressive, we were just in helmets, t-shirts and shorts that day. On one of my follow-throughs, I just caught the kneecap of the guy that was coming through and broke my middle toe. Our trainers, Lee Land and Ed Thompson, took my shoe off and there was blood. It popped the bone through the skin and I was done for the year.

Coffin with holder Jon Cairns

SD: How were you able to perfect your craft throughout the course of your career?

CC: Just watching film of myself, watching my shoulders, hips, follow-through, and just making sure everything looked the same every single time. If I was having an off-day, I'd watch the film and be like, oh, it's because your plant foot was too close, or your hips were slightly pointed this way or that way. Then I would just go out on the practice field and work on correcting it.

SD: I heard an interview where you related kicking to the golf swing.

CC: Yeah, I played junior golf growing up and developed a pre-shot routine. Kicking is a very similar, repetitive routine. It didn’t matter if it was an extra point or a 50-yard field goal, I had the same routine and gave it the same amount of effort.

SD: Your snapper and holder were also a key part of your success at SIU.

CC: Absolutely. I was very fortunate to have the same long snapper, Kent DeVinney, all four years. We had met at a kicking camp in Georgia before we got to SIU. He was an excellent long snapper.

I had Courtney Abbott holding the first two years, then for three years I had Jon Cairns. That consistency with having the same holder for three years, it just let me relax and do my thing, because I knew the snaps were going to be great, and I knew that Jon was going to put it right where it needed to be every single time. It made it very simple for me from a mental side of things to just do your routine.

Coffin with snapper Kent DeVinney

SD: Talk about being a part of the big turnaround, going from 4-8 your redshirt year to four-straight playoff appearances.

CC: It started at the top with Coach Kill and trickled down. You had the leadership of players like Joel Sambursky and some of the guys who had been through the worst, and they helped bring the young kids along and made sure the new recruits fit in.

It was all one team. That was the concept of Coach Kill. Specialists were doing the 6 a.m. and the winter workouts on the field in the snow and the ice with everybody else. I didn't want to let my teammates down because they were working just as hard as I was or harder. It just all jelled together in the end with the playoff appearances, getting to No. 1 in the nation. It was great.

SD: What was it like kicking in McAndrew Stadium?

CC: McAndrew was the windiest place I've ever played. It sat up there on a hill. It didn't seem like anything stopped the wind. It was definitely a fun place to play, though.

SD: Talk about playing for Coach Kill.

CC: For me, he was my position coach, so I interacted with him every day. He didn't really coach me too much on technique and things like that. It was more the mental side of things. He would watch film with us and make sure we were feeling good about where we were with the kicking.

It didn't really matter to him if you're the star quarterback or the kicker, he had the time of day for you, whether it was football-related or personal stuff. He would listen to you and give you advice and support you if you needed it. He was one of those father figures and just also happened to be a really good football coach. He believes in people. He gives everybody a fair shot.

SD: He could be very demanding to play for, couldn’t he?

CC: He was tough on us. There were a few times in practice he'd get after us and say, “that's just not good enough.” He'd also come and put his arm around you and explain that he was getting after you for a reason. He knew how to handle each individual player. Certain players, he could chew them out a bit more in front of others to set an example, and they would handle it. He knew other players didn't take well to being chewed out, being yelled at. Those players he would pull aside and just talk to them.

He wanted you to play your best, and ultimately, that would help the team play its best. That worked, obviously. The records that we had during those years speak for themselves.

SD: Speaking of records, you’re still the school’s all-time scoring leader. How proud are you of what you accomplished at SIU?

CC: I'm very proud. The scoring record is great, but I continue to attribute it to the teams I played on. We scored a lot of touchdowns, so I kicked a lot of extra points, which as a kicker, that's the easy one. A lot of that can be attributed to people like Joel, Brandon Jacobs, Arkee Whitlock, Muhammad Abdulqaadir, Tommy Koutsos, Brent Little, Braden Jones, and just so many offensive weapons that we had.

Obviously, I still had to make them, but that goes back to the practice we put in with Kent and Jon. It's a tribute to them as well. I was fortunate to be on some really good teams that allowed me to have some success that I had individually.

SD: Explain how your kicking career continued after SIU.

CC: After graduation, I had a week with the Arizona Rattlers in the Arena League. Their kicker was hurt, but he got better right before the game, so we both warmed up and then they decided to let him play that game. On Monday, I was cut.

In 2007, I had an opportunity to play for Team USA in the World Cup of American Football. We had training camp at San Jose State for three weeks, then flew over to Japan where we won the Gold medal. I kicked the winning field goal as time expired, which was unreal. That was my last hurrah in football. A nice way to go out, a Gold medal and ride off into the sunset.

Coffin with wife, Marisa, and son, Clayton

SD: Talk about your life and career after football.

CC: I bounced around a bit, working in outdoor education in Indiana, Tampa and Ocala. Then I moved to Nashville and started working at Dick's Sporting Goods, where I met my wife. We just celebrated our 10-year anniversary this past April. We adopted our son while we were living there. Then, we decided to move back to Pensacola, where she grew up.

About four years ago, we decided to pick up, sell everything, be crazy, and move to the south side of London. First, we moved to Wimbledon, which of course, is famous for the tennis tournament. Currently, we live in Surbiton, which is just outside of London. It’s next to the River Thames and you can go for walks along the river.

I work for a company called PXG. Their headquarters is in Arizona, but we have a build facility and a warehouse here. I'm the materials manager for the UK and Europe, so pretty much everything that comes into the building, I'm responsible for making sure that inventory is up to snuff so our sales team can sell it.

SD: How closely do you follow the current team?

CC: I love following from a distance when we can find a stream on YouTube. I watched your highlights from the SEMO game and it’s nice to see the updates on social media. I have a personal connection with Coach Hill and obviously I want him to do well because he's such a great guy. He's one of my teammates. I just keep cheering for SIU.