Travers Family Head Football Coach Tosh Lupoi announced Saturday the hiring of Zach Tinker as the program's special teams coordinator.
 
Tinker has worked with special teams on the same Oregon football staff as Lupoi for three of the last four seasons in roles of quality control in 2022 and an analyst since 2024. In between, he had special teams quality control duties at Cal for one season in 2023.
 
Oregon teams have posted a 35-5 overall record, won a 2024 Big Ten title and reached the College Football Playoff twice (2024, 25) with Tinker as a member of its football staff. Several special teams units and individuals have excelled during Tinker's three seasons, including a 2025 squad that has been responsible for five blocks. The Ducks currently rank tied for eighth nationally with a pair of blocked punts and are tied for ninth with three blocked kicks. Oregon had one of each in its first-round College Football Playoff win over James Madison last week. 
 
In addition, the Ducks lead the Big Ten and rank second nationally in punt return defense, allowing only 1.0 yard per return and allowing a total of just four punt returns for four yards. In 2024, the Ducks' kickoff return team was its top special teams unit, ranking sixth nationally with an average of 26.83 yards per return (12-322-1TD).
 
Specialists who have had strong showings with Tinker on staff include Oregon kickers Atticus Sappington and Camden Lewis. Lewis tied for 18th nationally in field goal percentage in 2022 going 14-of-16 and Sappington tied for 19th nationally in field goal percentage in 2024 while also going 14-of-16 (.875). In 2023, Cal punter Lachlan Wilson was No. 23 in the nation in punting average (44.5).
 
Tinker started his 27-year coaching career with 13 seasons (1999-2011) at four schools in the Pacific Northwest (Meridian High School, Western Washington, Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon) before an eight-year stint at South Dakota Mines (2012-19) as the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for four seasons before taking over as the head coach for his final four. 
 
Tinker later returned to his roots for two more campaigns as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Central Washington (2020-21) prior to the first of his two stints at Oregon. After his first season with the Wildcats was limited to a single game in the spring of 2021 due to COVID-19, Tinker helped a 2021 Central Washington team to an 8-3 overall record, a perfect 4-0 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference to win a league title and a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs. His prolific offense averaged 44.5 points per game to rank second in the nation and scored 50 or more points in five of the victories.

Tinker's 2018 team highlighted his four-year tenure as the head coach at South Dakota Mines. The Hardrockers were the nation's top passing team in the Division II ranks with an average of 332.4 yards per game, while their total offense (536.9 ypg) and scoring offense (43.8 ppg) were third and eighth, respectively. Senior All-American quarterback Jakeb Sullivan led the nation in passing (325.1 ypg), total offense (356.0 ypg) and touchdown passes (32) and later went on to play professionally in Europe, where he is currently a member of the Berlin Thunder. Wide receiver Isaiah Manley set a school record with 93 receptions for 1,223 yards with 13 touchdowns while running back Connor Silveria established a single-game school-record with 425 yards in a 56-42 victory over Adams State.
 
South Dakota Mines' prolific offense under Tinker during his first four campaigns at the school earned him a promotion to head coach, with each of his last three teams in the role of offensive coordinator all averaging over 30 points and 425 yards of total offense per game -  with his 2013 (38.4 ppg) and 2014 squads (480.2 ypg) putting up the top numbers. In 2014, Tinker was one of three finalists for the AFCA's Division II Assistant Coach of the Year as the offense broke several school records, including total offense (5,282 yards) and passing offense (3,540 yards).
 
Tinker's four-year stint as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Eastern Oregon (2008-11) was highlighted by his final Mountaineers' squad that finished with an 8-3 mark that at the time was only the school's second winning season in its first 82 years of play and included a victory over defending national champion and top-ranked Carroll College that snapped the Saints' 44-game Frontier Conference winning streak.
 
In his single season as the special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach at Southern Oregon in 2007, he helped guide the Raiders to a 5-4 mark that was their first winning record in three seasons.
Tinker's first collegiate coaching job came at his alma mater Western Washington (2003-06), where he helped the Vikings win the 2003 GNAC crown in his first of two seasons as the tight ends coach and coached center Loren Winter to 2006 Division II All-American honors while guiding the offensive line in each of his last of two campaigns.
 
Prior to joining the college ranks, Tinker spent four seasons at Meridian High School in Bellingham (1999-2002), helping the Trojans to the Class 2A State Championship in 1999 before finishing second in 2000.
 
Tinker played four seasons collegiately as a defensive end at Western Washington (1995-98) with the Vikings capturing GNAC titles in each of his first two seasons, including an NAIA national runner-up showing during his 1996 sophomore campaign. He was named the team's Most Inspirational Award recipient as a 1998 senior.
 
Tinker received his bachelor's degree in political science from Western Washington in 1998 and added his master's of teaching degree in 2008.
 
Tinker and his wife, Marnie, have two children, Joey and Julianna.