Coach Profile
Couch Family Safeties Coach/Special Teams Coordinator
Bob Gregory
Veteran Pac-12 coordinator Bob Gregory enters his first season as Stanford’s special teams coordinator and Couch Family Safeties Coach in 2023. Gregory has coached in the Pac-12 for 22 years during his career and has also been a coordinator (defensive or special teams) for 22 seasons throughout his career.
After spending eight seasons at Washington (2014-21), Gregory spent the 2022 season as a defensive analyst at Oregon.
Gregory was Washington’s defensive coordinator in 2021 before becoming the interim head coach midway through the season. For the five seasons prior, Gregory had served as UW’s special teams coordinator.
During the four-game 2020 season, Gregory coached inside linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, a former walk-on who finished the season with 47 tackles, first in the Pac-12 and fourth in the NCAA (based on per-game average). Ulofoshio earned second team All-Pac-12 and honorable mention All-America from Pro Football Focus.
In 2019, Gregory led the Husky special teams to another highly successful season. Washington’s punt team set a school record for punt average, while sophomore kicker Peyton Henry finished 19-for-21 on field goals. Washington added another punt return TD (Aaron Fuller), while their punt and kick coverage teams both achieved at the highest level. Opponents totaled just 44 yards of punt returns all season and managed just a 20.0-yard average on kickoff returns.
The 2018 season was highlighted by the performance of UW middle linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven, who Gregory helped mentor to the top of the Pac-12. Burr-Kirven was named first team All-America by numerous outlets and won the Pat Tillman Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award. Burr-Kirven, who was also the Pac-12’s football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, posted a remarkable total of 176 tackles, the highest total by a Husky in 29 years and more than double any teammate in 2018. Gregory was also a key to the Huskies leading the Pac-12 in both scoring and total defense for the fourth consecutive season.
In 2017, Gregory’s linebackers led the Pac-12’s top defense for a third-straight season. Washington led the conference in total defense (eighth nationally) and scoring defense (fifth nationally). They also led the Pac-12 in rushing defense (fourth nationally). Two of his players –Burr-Kirven and Keishawn Bierria – earned second team All-Pac-12 honors. Beirria and Azeem Victor went on to hear their names called in the 2018 NFL Draft, the first pair of Husky inside linebackers to be selected in the same draft since 1993.
Gregory also mentored a special teams unit that included consensus All-American Dante Pettis, who set a NCAA record for career punt return touchdowns.
In his first year overseeing the UW’s special teams, Gregory’s units had a lot of success. John Ross and Pettis formed one of the most dangerous kick return/punt return duos in the country while the Huskies allowed just 18.8 yards per kick return and a total of just 116 punt return yards all year.
In 2015, Gregory oversaw a linebacker crew that, despite having lost two players to the NFL, anchored the top defense in the Pac-12 Conference. The Husky defense led the Pac-12 in scoring defense and total defense and also finished second in rushing defense. Inside linebackers Victor and Bierria were among the conference’s top tacklers while outside backers Travis Feeney and Cory Littleton both finished in the top 10 in the league in sacks and went on to play in the NFL in 2016. Littleton, a star for the Los Angeles Rams, earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl in 2018.
In his first season on Montlake in 2014, Gregory oversaw a veteran group of linebackers that included first-team All-American Shaq Thomspon, as well as top tackler John Timu. Between those two and then-junior Feeney, Husky linebackers scored a remarkable seven defensive touchdowns. Timu lead the team in tackles (108), while Thompson won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player. Thompson was the first-round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers following the 2014 season while Timu earned a roster spot with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent, starting several games at the end of the 2015 season.