‘He’s a legend’: Craig Naivar ‘very detailed’ as Arizona’s special teams coordinator

The shirt is more of a message to his players than anything. Arizona's special teams coordinator wears a light blue mechanic shirt to practice every Tuesday. He has a “maintenance” patch embroidered on the left side of the shirt on his chest and a “Craig” patch on the opposite side.

It’s a tradition he started earlier in his coaching career.

“Today is the start of a work week,” Naivar said on Tuesday. “It's a work day. It's a reminder that we got to put in the work. It's a blue-collar program, it's a blue-(collar) city, it's time to work. ... It starts the physical work week. It sets the tone and says, ‘Hey, we're going to work this week.’ … Being here and understanding what this program is about, what this city is about, I thought it was something to remind our kids that it's time to go to work." 

Naivar is a master motivator. He is renowned for getting players to buy into a phase of football that isn’t necessarily the most appealing to most, but it’s an essential part of any football game.

Sixth-year Arizona defensive end and team captain Tre Smith, who has more blocked field goals than sacks this season, has “been a part of groups where it's not like people don't care, but I don't think they care enough. When I line up now, I know I'm lining up next to dudes who care as much as I do.”

That’s the Naivar effect.

“He's a legend, man,” Smith said. “He's going to be himself and never care about that, which is what I love and respect about him. He really cares about what he does. He's very detailed and will take the extra time with you if you need it.”

Naivar, who’s now in his second season with the program, said his ability to connect with players is because “kids can see through a phony.”

“If you're just going through the motions and you're not about it, they can see through that in a heartbeat,” Naivar added. “We're just taking advantage of the opportunity given to us and just trying to do my part to help this football team win games and get kids to understand the impact we have in those situations." 

Naivar’s reputation is what earned him an interview when Arizona was in the market for a special teams coordinator following the 2024 season. When Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales was a safety for the New Mexico Lobos, Naivar was a graduate assistant coach in 1996 and ‘97 and “was unbelievable as a GA,” Gonzales said.

Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege and safeties coach Brett Arce coached with Naivar at USC. When Doege was the offensive coordinator at Marshall in 2024, Naivar was the defensive coordinator and safeties coach.

"There was one coordinator who truly shut me down and it was him,” Doege said of Naivar.

Marshall beat Coastal Carolina 31-19 and “we won that game because of special teams that specific day, but he won that battle in (offense) versus (defense),” Doege said.

“He whooped my butt,” Doege said. “He's really good at what he does. The most important part to his job is he gets those kids to believe. He's great schematically, he's prepared, he's an unbelievable motivator and those kids freaking love him. They'll run as fast as they can through a wall for him. That's what you want in your special teams guy.”

Naivar was at the top of Doege’s list of suggestions for special teams coordinators at Arizona.

“I remember going into Coach (Brent) Brennan's office and said, 'I don't know what your thought process here is, but this guy is really, really good and the kids love him,’ ” Doege said. “He's very detailed, he has a ton of energy and is really good at what he does. He's very prepared and spends a lot of time at it." 

That preparation — and execution — showed up in Arizona’s thrilling 29-28 victory over TCU on Friday, a win that preserved the Wildcats’ chances of competing for a Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Some of the most impactful plays of Arizona’s win over TCU were in the special teams space, including Smith’s blocked field goal, a kickoff special and freshman Ian French beautifully executing a pooch kick with less than two minutes remaining to give the Wildcats an extra life — trailing 28-26 — with cornerback Zuri Watson recovering the loose ball and kicker Michael Salgado-Medina nailing three field goals, including his game-winning 37-yard field goal.

“I think everybody in our building knows what a fantastic football coach Craig Naivar is,” Brennan said. “There’s the amount of detail, the effort, the energy he puts into it and it was awesome to see those moments happen.”

Naivar said he hasn’t seen a freshman kicker execute like French since Los Angeles Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker’s game-winning field goal against Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown in 2018, when Naivar was an assistant at Texas.

“For a young man, who is a freshman in that stressful situation, to execute, that's a tremendous job by him and great effort by our guys to go down there and get after the football,” Naivar said.

Watson’s recovery — similar to cornerback Dwight Bootle’s fumble recovery in the fourth quarter against Texas Tech in Lubbock, a video clip Brennan showed the team to encourage hustle and obsessing over possession of the football — was an example of "bite the ball, fight the ball, get the ball." 

Smith’s field-goal block was an example of Arizona’s mantra of special teams, which is “speed of execution, violence of action.”

Salgado-Medina’s game-winning field goal was a “confidence booster,” Naivar said.

“It’s big,” Naivar said. “He’s had four or five game-sealing kicks (over his career). … He’s chasing consistency, but all kickers are.”

Brennan said, “it was awesome to see (Salgado-Medina) get out there and pipe that kick, and there was never a doubt for any of us.” It was the first-ever game-winning kick for Salgado-Medina, who’s had an up-and-down season despite having a successful training camp. In the practices open to media observations, Salgado-Medina missed maybe two field goals the entire month of training camp. He’s 12 for 16 this season.

“It was a great feeling, being able to execute on it and work so hard for a moment like that,” Salgado-Medina said of his game-winning field goal. “Being able to do it on a stage like this is an amazing feeling.” 

Is there a recipe for Naivar’s magic coaching special teams? Maybe it’s the special teams theme song, “Seek and Destroy” by Metallica, a song played during special teams periods in Arizona’s practices and kickoffs at games.

Why that song?

“It's been that way for a long time,” Naivar said. “It's just new school, different place. If you study the lyrics, you kind of get a good sense of how it’s going down.”

Extra points

— Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita was named a Maxwell Award semifinalist. Fifita is one of 18 semifinalists for an award given to the top college football player. Fifita is also a candidate for the Davey O’Brien Award, which is given to college football’s top quarterback. Fifita is fourth in college football with 2,794 yards — ninth with 21 touchdown passes. Utah quarterback Devon Dampier is also a Maxwell Award semifinalist.

— Arizona has $10 tickets available for the Arizona-Utah game at Casino Del Sol Stadium. The tickets can be purchased at GoFevo.com/event/Packsol2.

— Brennan bought and donated 1,000 tickets for servicemen at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to attend Arizona’s home battle with Utah. Saturday’s game, three days after Veterans Day, is Military Appreciation Day.