Craig Bohl promotes Oscar Giles to associate head coach
May 4—LARAMIE — University of Wyoming football coach Craig Bohl announced the promotion of Oscar Giles to associate head coach and head freshmen coach earlier this week.
Giles is going into his 24th season as a college coach and is in his second season at UW. Giles will continue to coach defensive tackles and nose tackles and will continue to serve as the defensive run-game coordinator.
During his previous 23 seasons as a college coach, Giles has helped coach 18 teams to bowl appearances, including UW's appearance in last year's Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl. Included in those postseason appearances was a BCS National Championship at the University of Texas in 2005 and a BCS national runner-up finish at Texas in 2009.
Giles served as an assistant coach at Texas on two different coaching staffs. He originally coached on the staff of Texas head coach Mack Brown for nine seasons from 2005-13. For four seasons from 2017-20, Giles returned to Texas to serve as the defensive line coach on the staff of head coach Tom Herman.
Prior to returning to his alma mater, Giles served as the assistant head coach and defensive line coach at the University of Houston under Herman for the 2015 and '16 seasons. Houston concluded the 2015 season with a 13-1 record and was ranked No. 8 in both the Associated Press and Coaches final polls after defeating Florida State 38-24 in the Peach Bowl.
Giles spent one season coaching the defensive line at Louisiana Tech in 2014. The Bulldogs posted a 9-5 record, won the western division of the Conference USA and defeated Illinois 35-18 in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
He was a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Texas, in 1999 and was part of a coaching staff who led the Longhorns to the Cotton Bowl. His first college coaching position was at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) in 1998.
Giles was a four-year letterman at Texas from 1987-90. He was a three-year starter and earned Associated Press All-Southwest Conference honors his senior season as he helped lead Texas to a 10-2 record the 1990 SWC championship and an appearance in the Cotton Bow.
Texas was ranked as high as No. 3 in the Associated Press poll during the 1990 season and ended the season ranked No. 12 in the final AP poll. He also was part of Texas' 1987 team than ended the season ranked No. 19 in the nation and captured a 32-27 victory over Pittsburgh in the 1987 Bluebonnet Bowl.
Giles was a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy and was a two-time GTE Academic All-SWC selection. He led Texas in sacks in 1988 (6.5) and '89 (7.0), finishing with 22.0 career sacks to tie for No. 10 on the Texas career list. He also recorded nine career fumble recoveries to tie for No. 2 in UT school history.
He later played professionally with the Atlanta Falcons as a defensive end and linebacker, and also played in the Canadian Football League from 1994-97. He was part of the Toronto Argonauts Grey Cup Championship team in 1996.
Giles and his wife, Kim, have two daughters, Olivia and Kourtney. A native of Palacios, Texas, he earned his bachelor's degree in speech communication from the University of Texas in 1991.
