Carter Barfield - Special Teams Coordinator - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Carter Barfield

Title:
Special Teams Coordinator

Carter Barfield was hired as the special teams coordinator in January 2025 at Tulsa.
Prior to coming to Tulsa, Barfield spent four seasons at Florida State University as a special teams analyst.
Barfield assisted special teams coordinator John Papuchis in multiple facets during his tenure with the Seminoles. He was an essential figure in the development of former punter Alex Mastromanno and former kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, who were both named AP All-Americans in 2024.
Mastromanno led the country and set an ACC record with 49.3 yards per punt. He also led the FBS with 30 punts of at least 50 yards, becoming a Ray Guy Award finalist for the second straight year.
Fitzgerald went 13/13 on field goals, including 5/5 from 50+ yards. His 59-yard field goal in the season opener against Georgia Tech is the second longest in program history. Fitzgerald was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award.
Before Florida State, Barfield served as a special teams analyst at Georgia Southern for one season in 2020. He was the interim tight ends coach for the Eagles before leaving for FSU.
Barfield spent seven seasons on staff at Mercer University. He served as the running backs coach and spent the last two seasons as co-recruiting coordinator.
As the running backs coach, Barfield led a stable of running backs that included senior standout Tee Mitchell, who broke Mercer's all-time rushing record with 2,660 career yards and gained 100-plus yards in four games before a season-ending injury.
He developed Tyray Devezin into one of SoCon's best backs, earning HERO Sports FCS sophomore All-American honors. Devezin finished the season with 926 rushing yards and averaged 24 carries and 117.0 yards over the last four weeks after Mitchell went down with an injury.
As the co-recruiting coordinator, Barfield played a key role in landing a 22-man 2019 recruiting class that ranked among the nation's best at the FCS level.
Barfield was at the University of Kentucky before Mercer. He served as an offensive quality control coach and graduate assistant for two seasons. He worked heavily with the quarterbacks and running backs.
Before his time at Kentucky, Barfield spent three years at the University of Tennessee-Martin, working in several different capacities with the team. He started his coaching tenure at UT-Martin as a defensive graduate assistant before moving to the other side of the ball as an offensive graduate assistant coach, where he coached wide receivers for one year. Barfield spent his last year at UT-Martin as the quarterbacks coach, helping create and develop the team's passing game while also assisting in recruiting.
Barfield played collegiate football for five years as a wide receiver under head coach Bobby Lamb at Furman University. During his playing years, the team drew top-12 national rankings in four of the five years, including a Southern Conference Championship in 2004.
A graduate of Furman, he received a bachelor's degree in history in December 2006.
He is married to the former Jenny Watson. The couple has two daughters, Hannah and Sarah James, and one son, Noah.