David Gibbs Named Co-Defensive Coordinator and Secondary Coach at UCF

David Gibbs, a 27-year veteran of the coaching industry, including 11 seasons as a defensive coordinator in the college ranks and nine seasons as a defensive backs coach for three different National Football League teams, is the new co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach on Gus Malzahn's UCF football coaching staff.

Gibbs was the secondary coach at Missouri the last two years (2019-20) after spending four seasons as defensive coordinator (2015-18) at Texas Tech, where his defenses became known as one of the top turnover-creating units in the country.

Mizzou's defense in 2019 allowed the fewest first downs (195) of any Football Bowl Subdivision program while also ranking sixth nationally in pass defense (179.3 yards per game) under Gibbs. The Tigers were ninth in pass efficiency defense, 14th in total defense (312.0) and 16th in scoring defense (19.4).

In 2017, Texas Tech led the Big 12 Conference and ranked sixth nationally with 29 forced turnovers, including four defensive scores, most by a Texas Tech defense since 2001. From 2013-17, Gibbs' defenses at Tech and Houston forced a combined 140 turnovers, tied for most in the nation among any defensive coordinator during that five-year span.

Gibbs previously served as defensive coordinator at Minnesota (1997-2000), Auburn (2005) and Houston (2013-14) and also took over as interim head coach for the Cougars' appearance in the 2015 Armed Forces Bowl. In that game, Gibbs' team posted the biggest fourth-quarter comeback win in bowl game history, overcoming a 31-6 deficit with just 11 minutes remaining to notch a thrilling 35-34 victory over Pittsburgh.

In his first season at the helm of the Red Raider defense, Gibbs preached the importance of forcing turnovers and the effects showed as Tech went from a minus-13 turnover margin in 2014 to plus-two in 2015. The Red Raiders picked off 15 passes and recovered 10 fumbles in 2015, a year after forcing just 15 turnovers altogether.

Gibbs quickly changed the defensive culture at Houston shortly after his arrival prior to the 2013 season. The Cougars ranked as the third-most improved scoring defense nationally and ranked 20th in the country after allowing 21.8 points per game, a significant improvement from the 36 points per game Houston surrendered in 2012.

The 2013 Houston defense led the nation with 43 turnovers forced to help lead the Cougars to a nation's best plus-25 turnover margin. Trevon Stewart led the nation and set a Houston record with six fumble recoveries, while Adrian McDonald led the American Athletic Conference with six interceptions.

The dramatic defensive overhaul under Gibbs continued in 2014 as Houston finished the regular season ranked 11th nationally in scoring defense at 19.5 points per game and 19th nationally in total defense at 334.6 yards per game. The Houston defense was fifth nationally with 30 takeaways, including 19 interceptions (sixth nationally).

Prior to Houston, Gibbs' last collegiate coaching stop was in 2005 when he served as defensive coordinator at Auburn. The Tiger defense ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 15.5 points per game that season, while ranking 11th in sacks (39) and 16th in third-down defense.

On the professional level, Gibbs spent a combined nine seasons in Denver, Kansas City and Houston as a defensive backs coach. Teams sporting Gibbs on staff finished in the top 12 of total defense five times and advanced to the NFL Playoffs on three occasions. Three players under Gibbs earned NFL Pro Bowl selections--Champ Bailey, John Lynch and Deltha O'Neal.

Prior to joining the professional ranks, Gibbs became the youngest coordinator on the Football Bowl Subdivision  level at the time as the then-29-year-old took over as defensive coordinator at Minnesota in 1997. Gibbs improved a Minnesota defense that had ranked last in the Big Ten in 1996 to one ranked eighth in the nation in pass efficiency defense and scoring defense by 1999. 

Under Gibbs' tutelage, Tyrone Carter won the 1999 Jim Thorpe Award and back-to-back All-America honors in 1998 and 1999. Defensive end Lamanzer Williams earned All-America honors in 1997 as Gibbs' defense produced an All-American in three straight seasons for the first time at Minnesota since 1961-63. 

Gibbs earned his first full-time coaching position in 1995 at the University of Kansas, where he coached the program's defensive backs. The Jayhawks advanced to just their eighth bowl game in program history in Gibbs' first year when they defeated UCLA in the Aloha Bowl. Gibbs earned his first coaching opportunity with back-to-back two-year stints as a graduate assistant at both Colorado and Oklahoma.

The Auburn, Alabama, native was a four-year letterman at the University of Colorado from 1987-90. He started at defensive back for the 1990 national-title winning Colorado team and the 11-1 1989 team that finished fourth nationally in the final polls. Gibbs graduated from Colorado in 1990, earning Academic All-Big Eight honors as a senior.

Gibbs and his wife, Debbie, are the parents of two children--a son, Hudson, and a daughter, Charlie Grace.

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