Scott Fountain serves as Head Coach Sam Pittman’s assistant head coach and special teams coordinator.
Arkansas’ special teams were steady once again under the watchful eye of Fountain in 2022. Three specialists picked up postseason honors with kickoff specialist Jake Bates earning First-Team All-SEC accolades from the league’s coaches, kicker Cam Little being named to the SEC Community Service Team and freshman long snapper Eli Stein earning Freshman All-SEC status. Bates was a weapon for the Razorbacks in his lone season, recording 64 touchbacks on his 75 kickoffs for a nation-best 85.3%. Little produced a solid sophomore season, leading the team with 89 points thanks to 13-of-16 on field goals and a perfect 50-for-50 on PATs. Little continued to add his name to the Arkansas record book by moving into the all-time top 10 in field goals made (33 – 9th), PAT attempts (96 – 8th), PATs made (96 – 8th) and kick scoring (195 – T-10th). In just two seasons, Little has two of the top 10 kick scoring seasons in program history with his 106 points in 2021 ranking third and his 89 points from 2022 placing him 10th.
In the return game, Bryce Stephens made it two years in a row for the Hogs with a punt return for a touchdown when he took a punt 82 yards to the house to ignite a comeback win over Missouri State in the third game of the season. Stephens’ 105 return yards against the Bears put him eighth all-time in a single game in school history. Punter Reid Bauer moved into the career top 10 in punts with 179 in his career to rank sixth on the all-time school list with his 7,519 yards ranking him sixth all time at Arkansas. Bauer’s 78-yard boot at Auburn matched the 10th-longst punt in school history.
Fountain’s work on Arkansas’ special teams started to take shape during the 2021 season. Freshman kicker Cam Little was an immediate difference maker for the Razorbacks, earning Freshman All-America and SEC All-Freshman honors. Little made 20 of his 24 field goals (.833) and all 46 of his PATs to lead Arkansas in scoring with 106 points. His 20 made field goals matched Todd Wright’s total from 1989 for the third-most in a single season by a Razorback. Little also matched the third-most field goals in a game by a Razorback with four in a win over Texas and booted a walk-off winner at LSU in overtime.
Long snapper Jordan Silver was an unsung hero for the Hogs, earning Third-Team All-SEC honors from Phil Steele and being invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine Bowl and NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. Punter Reid Bauer saw improvement from 2020, averaging 43.3 yards per punt, including 23 fair catches and 14 punts of 50+ yards. Bauer made a name for himself on the national level as the team’s holder, winning the Peter Mortell Holder of the Year Award. He twice pulled off fake field goals, hitting Blake Kern for a touchdown at Alabama and running 23 yards for a first down in the win at LSU. Punt returner Nathan Parodi became the first Razorback to return a punt for a touchdown since 2011 when he took a punt back for a score against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium. Parodi’s 114 punt return yards in the win are the seventh-most in program history.
In his first year in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks received steady play from long snapper Jordan Silver, who graded out as one of the top long snappers in the SEC. Arkansas’ kickers combined to go 8-for-12 on field goals while the team’s punters averaged 42.1 yards per punt. De’Vion Warren averaged 20 yards per kickoff return before suffering a season-ending injury at Florida.
Fountain came to Arkansas after spending 2019 at Georgia in the same role. The Bulldogs saw immediate success with Fountain at the controls, led by kicker and Lou Groza Award winner Rodrigo Blankenship. The first-team All-SEC kicker capped an impressive career at UGA going 27-for-33 (81.8%) on field goals and making all 46 extra points as the Bulldogs won the 2020 Allstate Sugar Bowl. Blankenship was also a weapon on kickoffs allowing just 14 returns all season. Punter Jake Camarda improved in 2019 as well, upping his average to 46.8 yards per punt to rank sixth nationally.
In 2018, Georgia had two of the SEC’s top special teams players in return man Mecole Hardman and Blankenship. Hardman led the SEC in punt return average (20.1), was fifth in kick return average (25.2) and was named to the ESPN.com All-America first team.
A Lou Groza semifinalist, Blankenship earned second team All-SEC honors after finishing fifth in the SEC in scoring by kickers (8.7 points per game) and booted his school record 154th consecutive PAT. He also posted 82 kickoff touchbacks (season record) extending his school career record to 170.
As a team, the Bulldogs were first in the SEC in punt return yards (366) and punt return average (16.6; seventh nationally) and tied for first in punt return touchdowns (2).
Fountain also contributed to the Bulldogs’ emergence on special teams in 2017. Hardman averaged 25.3 yards per kick return, ranking second in the SEC and 21st nationally. Georgia’s special teams unit also held opponents to 5.9 yards per punt return and 19.5 yards per kick return. Those numbers were all reduced from a year prior, as opponents averaged 6.1 yards per punt return, 23.8 yards per kick return and notched two 95-yard kickoff returns versus the Bulldogs in 2016.
Additionally, Blankenship hit on 20 of his 23 field goal attempts, including a 55-yarder in the 2018 Rose Bowl vs. Oklahoma and a 51-yarder in overtime of the national championship game. He made all 63 of his PAT attempts, kicked 67 touchbacks (a Georgia season record at the time and third nationally) and was named a semifinalist for the 2017 Lou Groza Award. Punter Cameron Nizialek averaged 45.0 yards per punt to rank ninth nationally and was named a semi-finalist for the 2017 Ray Guy Award.
Fountain joined Georgia’s full time, on-field staff, in 2018, after filling the same position at Mississippi State during the offseason. Fountain was the special teams analyst at Georgia during the 2017 season.
Before joining Georgia’s staff, Fountain had spent the previous eight years as a member of the football program at Auburn, the first four as the Tigers’ player personnel director and the latter four coaching tight ends and special teams. From 2014-16, Fountain coached kicker Daniel Carlson, a three-time Lou Groza Award finalist.
Fountain, a part of three SEC championship teams, led Auburn’s administrative and recruiting efforts from 2009-12. He followed Gene Chizik to Auburn after spending two seasons (2007-08) on Chizik’s staff at Iowa State as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
Fountain has coached in four national championship games (1997, 2010, 2013, 2017) since beginning his collegiate coaching career at Florida State (1994-96) as an offensive graduate assistant. He then spent seven seasons as an offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Central Florida. Before his eight-year stint at Auburn, Fountain also included coaching stops at Middle Tennessee (2004-05), Georgia Southern (2006) and Iowa State (2007-08).
He began his coaching career in high school, making four stops in Alabama, including Flomaton HS (1988) and W.S. Neal HS (1989), his alma mater. He became a head coach for the first time at Frisco City HS (1990-92) and made his final high school stop at Monroe County (1993).
Fountain earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Samford in 1988 and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Florida State in 1998.
He is married to the former Rosie Hidalgo, and the couple has four sons: Brookes, Hunter, Tanner and Skyler.
The Fountain Profile
Birthdate: February 28, 1966
Birthplace: Brewton, Alabama
High School: W.S. Neal High School – Brewton, Alabama
College: Samford, 1988 B.S. Physical Education; Florida State, 1998 M.A. Educational Leadership
Family: Wife, the former Rosie Hidalgo; Sons – Brookes, Hunter, Tanner and Skyler
Coaching Experience
1988 Flomaton (Ala.) HS (Assistant Coach)
1989 W.S. Neal (Ala.) HS (Assistant Coach)
1990-92 Frisco City (Ala.) HS (Head Coach)
1993 Monroe County (Ala.) HS (Head Coach)
1994-96 Florida State (Offensive Graduate Assistant)
1997-03 Central Florida (Offensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator)
2004-05 Middle Tennessee State (Offensive Line)
2006 Georgia Southern (Offensive Line)
2007-08 Iowa State (Tight Ends/Recruiting Coordinator)
2009-12 Auburn (Player Personnel Director)
2013-16 Auburn (Tight Ends/Special Teams)
2017 Georgia (Special Teams Analyst)
2018 Mississippi State (Special Teams Coordinator)
2019 Georgia (Special Teams Coordinator)
2020-pres. Arkansas (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator)
