Gators Set to Hire Super Bowl-Winning Special Teams Coach to Staff

The Florida Gators are set to make a late addition to its 2026 coaching staff. According to CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz, Florida is set to hire Greg McMahon as a special teams analyst.

McMahon was most recently the special teams coordinator at Tulane from 2023-24, a role that included one season under first-year Florida head coach Jon Sumrall. Other notable stops in his 40-year coaching career include stints with the XFL's Houston Roughnecks (2023), UFL's Houston Gamblers (2022), LSU (2017-21), where he won a national championship, and New Orleans Saints (2006-16), where he won a Super Bowl.

He was a special teams consultant at LSU in 2017 before being elevated to special teams coordinator, similar to his rise from assistant special teams coordinator with the Saints from 2006-07 to special teams coordinator from 2008-16.

Florida is set to hire longtime special teams coach Greg McMahon as a special teams analyst, sources tell @CBSSports.

Has been an NFL special teams coordinator with the Saints and a college special teams coordinator for teams like LSU and Tulane. pic.twitter.com/wPGb8vOJiq
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) July 27, 2026

While at Tulane, McMahon's special teams unit in 2023 ranked first in the AAC and 10th nationally with 24.81 yards per return, while kicker Valentino Ambrosio ranked second in the league with 105 points. Other notable accolades include LSU leading the league in kicking points in 2018 and 2019, with kicker Cade York also setting program records for most career 50-yard field goals and longest field goal in school history.

McMahon was also responsible for one of the most notable plays in NFL history with the Saints becoming the first team in NFL history to successfully excute an onside kick prior to the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl. The successful kick eventually turned a 10-6 deficit into a 13-10 lead for New Orleans.

At Florida, McMahon will work under special teams coordinator Johnathan Galante, who replaced McMahon at Tulane for the 2025 season. He and Galante are tasked with rebuilding the Gators' special teams unit, which is headlined by three transfers in former Tulane kicker Patrick Durkin, former Tulane punter Alec Clark and former Louisiana long snapper Carter Milliron.

Florida also returns Preseason All-SEC return specialist Vernell Brown III.

They will also be tasked with turning over a unit known for outlandish blunders and coaching miscues suffered under the previous coaching staff, including not having enough players on the field, untimely penalties and general miscues such as missed kicks.

Last February, Galante addressed how the new staff is rebuilding the unit.

"It starts from the top down. OK? And we've got a system to handle all those," he said. "Game day operations don't just happen on game day. You've got to practice it. It's rehearsed. It's something we start even in the special teams meeting. So organization, communication, it can't be different on Saturday than it is during the week. So, it's a process.

"We build it in even how we're going to do our team special teams meetings here. Hopefully in a couple weeks, when we beat this offseason program or when we start spring ball, we're going to sit in order of depth chart in the special teams meeting. So, when we call the punt team up. The first punt team will sit in the first row of chairs, second unit will sit behind them, third and so on. And when we transition, or there's a substitution or change, and it happens in the meeting room, OK? And then we do it at practice, right? And then we go through game scripts when we get into the season. You said the word emphasize. You're not going to be good or proficient in anything if you don't emphasize it. So we emphasize it daily."

Florida opens fall camp on Aug. 5, with the season set to open on Sept. 5 at home against FAU.

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