Frank Okam
The Houston Texans have hired Franklin Okam as their new assistant defensive line coach. “Big Frank,” as he was known before graduating from Lake Highlands High School in 2004, recently completed his second season as the defensive line coach at the University of Toledo and previously worked in the NFL as an assistant with the Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers.
Okam played on the University of Texas Longhorns team that went 13-0 and won the 2006 BCS national title with a heart-stopping 41-38 win over USC at the Rose Bowl. He earned All-Big 12 and All-America honors in 2006 and 2007 and was a first-team Freshman All-America selection by the Sporting News in 2004.
Okam was drafted by the Texans in the fifth round of the 2008 draft. He played for Houston, Seattle, Tampa Bay and the New York Giants before retiring in 2013.
While earning a master’s degree at Rice University, Okam began coaching as a graduate assistant in 2014. He was an assistant coach at Baylor for two seasons, where five of his players, including Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year James Lynch, went on to play in the NFL.
Okam and his wife Megan have a two-year-old son and a baby daughter.
