Rivera reassigns special teams coach Rodgers, promotes DeHaven

[rayzor]

some keep mentioning the fact that he moved from team to team, as if he kept getting fired.

 

well, technically he did...but consider the situation in those "firings".

 

after his stint in buffalo ended in '99, he was picked up by the 49ers. he left in 2002 because when mariucci was fired and the ownership cleaned house...not because they were doing poorly, because they were winning, but because mooch wasn't getting along with the dysfunctional ownership.

 

after the politic driven house cleaning in san fran the 2002 year, he went from one good team at the end of a legendary era to work with a legendary coach in bill parcells. when parcells retired in 2006, dehaven was one of a few coaches who left (mike zimmer being another) who left to take jobs with other teams.

 

dehaven went to seahawks with mike holmgren (who was a very good coach), when holmgren retired dehaven stuck around for the fiasco that was the jim mora year. i almost called it an era, but it was more like a stupid blip that franchise made and then corrected by cleaning house. again, dehaven was a casualty of a house cleaning.

 

from seattle, dehaven went back to buffalo to a team that had a knee jerk reaction and made a mistake of firing a historically good coach two days after one bad play. yet again, though, he became a casualty of a house cleaning when chan gailey's whole staff was fired.

 

in all of those stints, whether he was a casualty of a house cleaning or in the case of dallas, left with parcells, he had very good special team units.

 

when we picked him up, it was a major score for us. i don't know who was responsible for hiring him, but keeping him behind rodgers was a huge mistake. i know that the intention was likely that dehaven would mentor rodgers (who, like other ST coaches here before him, had no previous ST experience before being asked to coach STs), but that just didn't work out. rodgers has a job with the panthers for one reason and one reason only....rivera.

 

dehaven should have been given the job right out. promoting him now is just correcting a mistake that was made a couple years back.

 

here's another issue i have. people keep giving rivera props for shuffling rodgers to some other job and promoting dehaven, but it's just as likely (maybe even moreso) that gettleman forced the issue and rivera's hand and reassigning rodgers was the only way that rivera could save his old friend's job.

 

rivera is a great teacher and motivator, but he has his issues with recognizing talent and putting the most talented people in the right jobs and will typically only make changes when his hand is forced for one reason or another and it's only then that the right people get in the right jobs.

 

point is, we now have the coaching in STs that we have been lacking for a long time. couple that with what appears to be a concerted effort to improve our return game by getting actual return guys instead of just guys "we" like and want to have a job somewhere.

 

we have two very good kickers and we have some good ST players here, but what has been needed is management and a legit returner. we very well could go into the 2015 season with a STs unit and staff that is capable of moving from being one of the worst in the league to one of the better ones. dehaven getting the gig is a good step in that direction.

[Mr. Scot]

some keep mentioning the fact that he moved from team to team, as if he kept getting fired.

well, technically he did...but consider the situation in those "firings".

after his stint in buffalo ended in '99, he was picked up by the 49ers. he left in 2002 because when mariucci was fired and the ownership cleaned house...not because they were doing poorly, because they were winning, but because mooch wasn't getting along with the dysfunctional ownership.

after the politic driven house cleaning in san fran the 2002 year, he went from one good team at the end of a legendary era to work with a legendary coach in bill parcells. when parcells retired in 2006, dehaven was one of a few coaches who left (mike zimmer being another) who left to take jobs with other teams.

dehaven went to seahawks with mike holmgren (who was a very good coach), when holmgren retired dehaven stuck around for the fiasco that was the jim mora year. i almost called it an era, but it was more like a stupid blip that franchise made and then corrected by cleaning house. again, dehaven was a casualty of a house cleaning.

from seattle, dehaven went back to buffalo to a team that had a knee jerk reaction and made a mistake of firing a historically good coach two days after one bad play. yet again, though, he became a casualty of a house cleaning when chan gailey's whole staff was fired.

in all of those stints, whether he was a casualty of a house cleaning or in the case of dallas, left with parcells, he had very good special team units.

when we picked him up, it was a major score for us. i don't know who was responsible for hiring him, but keeping him behind rodgers was a huge mistake. i know that the intention was likely that dehaven would mentor rodgers (who, like other ST coaches here before him, had no previous ST experience before being asked to coach STs), but that just didn't work out. rodgers has a job with the panthers for one reason and one reason only....rivera.

dehaven should have been given the job right out. promoting him now is just correcting a mistake that was made a couple years back.

here's another issue i have. people keep giving rivera props for shuffling rodgers to some other job and promoting dehaven, but it's just as likely (maybe even moreso) that gettleman forced the issue and rivera's hand and reassigning rodgers was the only way that rivera could save his old friend's job.

rivera is a great teacher and motivator, but he has his issues with recognizing talent and putting the most talented people in the right jobs and will typically only make changes when his hand is forced for one reason or another and it's only then that the right people get in the right jobs.

point is, we now have the coaching in STs that we have been lacking for a long time. couple that with what appears to be a concerted effort to improve our return game by getting actual return guys instead of just guys "we" like and want to have a job somewhere.

we have two very good kickers and we have some good ST players here, but what has been needed is management and a legit returner. we very well could go into the 2015 season with a STs unit and staff that is capable of moving from being one of the worst in the league to one of the better ones. dehaven getting the gig is a good step in that direction.

Great post, Rayz.

Only disagreement is I do think it's at least possible Rivera made the decision on his own.

[beastson52]

I initially read it as "re-signs" specials teams coach... I was about to flip out lol. Good call by Chico.

[rayzor]

Great post, Rayz.

Only disagreement is I do think it's at least possible Rivera made the decision on his own.

i didn't say it wasn't. i just said it was very likely that his hand was forced.

[TheRed]

I would hope that Rivera had the common sense to make this decision on his own, if his hand was forced then we have bigger problems.

 

There's no excuse for how putrid our special teams was at times last year.

[Mr. Scot]

i didn't say it wasn't. i just said it was very likely that his hand was forced.

Its definitely possible.

Doubt we ever know.

And honestly, as long as its the right result, I don't care whose idea it was.

[Camp Fodder]

A Gettleman 'suggestion'?

this

[JakeH]

My memory's solid these days

 

I read Fuller's bio to see if there was anywhere he could be reassigned.  Turns out he was a special teams assistant at some point, so I guess they could do a straight switcheroo.

 

I'm honestly not a big fan of that either though.

 

The site no longer lists Mills as the Defensive QC, only the DL Assistant.  Didn't realize, but there's no Offensive QC either.

 

Did the team drop the whole QC model, perhaps?

 

I don't think the team dropped the QC model, per se, just re-worded the job title. Oftentimes they're just referred to as a "defensive assistant" which was Fuller's job title along with assistant defensive backs coach. And in his bio on Panthers.com he lists some of his responsibilities as aiding McDermott with day-to-day operations.

 

As far as an offensive QC coach, I think those responsibilities, plus some, were handled by Ramsdell last season. He was an uber-QC coach of sorts with the traditional role of charting opposing offenses along with some input on game planning.

 

Honestly I could see Rodgers and Fuller having co-defensive backs assistant roles, perhaps with one being focused on the corners and the other on the safeties. Since Wilks has more responsibilities than your traditional DB coach as passing defense coordinator, it makes sense to give him a little more help. 

 

[Mr. Scot]

I don't think the team dropped the QC model, per se, just re-worded the job title. Oftentimes they're just referred to as a "defensive assistant" which was Fuller's job title along with assistant defensive backs coach. And in his bio on Panthers.com he lists some of his responsibilities as aiding McDermott with day-to-day operations.

As far as an offensive QC coach, I think those responsibilities, plus some, were handled by Ramsdell last season. He was an uber-QC coach of sorts with the traditional role of charting opposing offenses along with some input on game planning.

Honestly I could see Rodgers and Fuller having co-defensive backs assistant roles, perhaps with one being focused on the corners and the other on the safeties. Since Wilks has more responsibilities than your traditional DB coach as passing defense coordinator, it makes sense to give him a little more help.

Under Fox, we had a separate coach for safeties (Mike Gillhammer if I remember correctly) but I don't think Rivera's ever done that.

I suppose he could.

[JakeH]

Under Fox, we had a separate coach for safeties (Mike Gillhammer if I remember correctly) but I don't think Rivera's ever done that.

I suppose he could.

 

Given that that's where Rodgers' coaching history lies (with defensive backs) and he's trying to save his buddy's ass, I think he'll try it. Or assistant LB's coach since that's the position he played in college.

 

[Mr. Scot]

Given that that's where Rodgers' coaching history lies (with defensive backs) and he's trying to save his buddy's ass, I think he'll try it. Or assistant LB's coach since that's the position he played in college.

Assistant DB of some sort is my expectation.

Makes it crowded, but then he's not being kept because he's valuable.

[RelaxImaPro]

Whether it was Rivera's idea or Gettleman forcing the issue, both present good scenarios.

 

A.  Rivera wised up and finally did what needed to be done

 

B.  Gettleman let it be known he isn't going to let obvious things like that go unnoticed

 

Rivera may not like scenario B, but at least we know Gettleman may be taking a more hands on approach in those areas where Rivera obviously lacks (putting the right people in the right situations).  Dave has shown to be pretty football smart ever since getting the job here.