Joe Palcic is in his second season at SJSU after joining the football staff as a special teams analyst in August of 2023 after being an assistant special teams coordinator at Western Michigan University since January of 2019.
In 2023, The Spartans special teams in 2023 had two blocked punts including one for a touchdown, had a punt return touchdown and recovered three onside kicks, plus had three fumble recoveries on kickoffs. According to ESPN, the Spartans had the number two special teams unit in the country in at 70.9 efficiency.
Special teams was a highlight in the abbreviated 2020 season, as WMU's D'Wayne Eskridge was named Mid-American Conference Special Teams Player of the Year and a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player in FBS). Eskridge was one of two players in the MAC with a kickoff return for a TD and his 27.5 yards per kickoff return led the league. He led FBS in all-purpose yards (213.0) and was the only player in the nation to average more than 200 all-purpose yards per game.
Eskridge aside, Palcic saw both of his position groups earn All-MAC honors in 2020, as Bricen Garner was named a first-team selection at safety and Nick Mihalic was named the league's third-team punter. Garner ranked ninth in the MAC in break-ups. Mihalic punted 18 times with just three touchbacks and six inside the opponent 20-yard line. He had four punts of over 50 yards and a long of 68 yards.
2019 featured tremendous special teams success for the Broncos. The kickoff return unit led the Mid-American Conference with 24.5 yards per runback to stand 17th nationally. Individually, graduate transfer Keith Mixon Jr. finished first in the league in kickoff return average (28.0) and 10th in the country. Mixon Jr. earned first team All-MAC honors as a kickoff returner and added third team accolades as a punt returner.
Palcic turned around WMU’s punting game, guiding sophomore Nick Mihalic to a 41.9 yards per boot average, the sixth best in the MAC, and up from 37.3 yards a punt in 2018.
Palcic also took great strides in improving the Broncos’ kickoff unit. Western Michigan averaged 56.3 yards a kickoff in 2019, up from 54.8 yards in 2019. As a team, the Broncos registered six touchbacks in 2018 to rank 129th out of 130 nationally. WMU finished with 15 touchbacks in 2019.
Palcic arrived in Kalamazoo after five seasons at Miami (Ohio), including the 2018 campaign as the RedHawks’ special teams coordinator.
Miami led the Mid-American Conference and ranked No. 12 nationally for special teams S&P+ Ratings in 2018. S&P+ Ratings are derived from the play-by-play and drive data of all 800-plus of the season’s FBS college football games (140,000-plus plays). The ratings take into account efficiency, explosiveness and factors related to field position and finishing drives. In regard to special teams, the ratings consider play-for-play special teams efficiency and are weighted for overall importance.
Palcic’s special teams were dominant throughout the MAC in 2018, finishing first in the conference in both kick return average (25.7 yards) and kick coverage average (45.3 yards). The RedHawks produced a pair of All-MAC performers in Maurice Thomas and Kyle Kramer. Thomas finished first in the MAC in kick return average (26.7 yards), while Kramer had 30 of his 65 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Prior to focusing on Miami’s special teams, Palcic coached safeties from 2015 to 2017 and the RedHawk linebackers in 2014. In 2017 Miami ranked third in the MAC in scoring defense, third in total defense and fourth in pass defense. The RedHawks were ranked first in the MAC in total defense in 2016 and fourth in pass defense.
Palcic spent the 2013 season with Alabama as a defensive analyst. Prior to joining the Crimson Tide, he was the defensive backs coach at Ashland University for one season, helping the Eagles to a perfect 11-0 regular season and was part of a defensive unit that led the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in scoring and total defense.
Palcic spent six seasons as the co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at Indiana from 2005-10, helping the Hoosiers advance to their first bowl game in 14 years (2007 Insight Bowl). Palcic’s defense led the Big Ten in sacks (47), turnovers (31) and interceptions (19) in 2007.
In his time with the Hoosiers, Palcic mentored two former National Football League draft picks: Tracy Porter (2008, second round) and Ray Fisher (2010, seventh round). Porter went on to intercept Peyton Manning in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV, securing a victory for the New Orleans Saints.
Before coaching at Indiana, Palcic was also at Miami from 1999-2004. In his first season he coached linebacker Dustin Cohen, who was named the 1999 Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Palcic oversaw defensive backs and special teams from 2000-03 and was named the team’s defensive coordinator in 2004. The 2003 RedHawks won the MAC Championship and finished the season 10th in the AP poll.
Palcic began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan in 1998. He was an outside linebacker at Miami from 1994-97, completing his degree in sociology in 1998.
Palcic and his wife, Courtney, have one son, Nicholas, and a daughter, Gabrielle.