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Would you change Special teams coaches?

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

Posted
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Just saw word that the Jets fired Bobby April. 

April is a longtime special teams coach that's got a knack for producing solid special teams play, and he's someone I hoped we'd talk to when we were looking to replace Richard Rodgers. Despite the down season with the Jets (whose special teams have been dysfunctional for a while now and whose locker room was a mess under Rex Ryan) April still has a pretty good rep.  He also has a former colleague on the Panthers staff (OL Coach John Matsko; they were on the Rams staff together for a few years) and would be acquainted with - and probably coached - receivers coach Ricky Proehl who was a player with the Rams around the same time.

Panthers special teams have certainly had their issues over the last few seasons, so maybe a well-regarded special teams coach could help improve things.

Ah, but there's a bit of a sticking point.

Special Teams Coach Bruce DeHaven was diagnosed with cancer back before training camp.  The team brought in Russ Purnell to help, but it's still officially DeHaven's job, and the Panthers have supported him through his treatments.

Sympathy aside though, the team would probably like better results.  Head Coach Ron Rivera was seen on camera yelling at DeHaven a couple of times during the season after some egregious special teams miscues.  As a whole, Carolina's units have ranked on the lower end of the scale, and some of the problems DeHaven was expected to fix still seem to be occurring.

To be fair, prior to the ST collapse we saw under Richard Rodgers, DeHaven - who's in his late 50s, possibly early 60s (haven't been able to confirm, FYI: April is 62) - was content to work as an Assistant ST Coach rather than taking the main role.  He could conceivably go back to that.  You'd still have to do something with Russ Purnell, but prior to getting the call to come to Carolina, Purnell was planning to retire anyway.

All that said, firing or demoting a coach who's battling cancer means a massive s--t storm (which you could argue would be deserved) especially given the Panthers history and the story behind the "Keep Pounding" mantra.  And as a practical matter, DeHaven also has a reputation for being one of the best special teams coaches in the league.  It's not a given that the problems the team has had trace to him.  

So the question becomes how cold-hearted are you willing to be?  Is a coaching change warranted?  And if so, how do you do that to a guy who's battling cancer?

What would you do?

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mc52beast Grand Master

mc52beast

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Football is a business, just ask any player or coach. It's not what you've done in the past but what have you done lately.

If it was me, I want results. It would be hard but I would be looking for a replacement right now. JR won't let them fire DeHaven this year, but if the issues continue next year he's gone.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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Worth noting in the "connections" department that DeHaven joined the Bills staff the same year Dave gettleman became a scout with them, so their acquaintance likely goes way back (and may be how he wound up here in the first place).

Gettleman has, however, made it clear that coaching staff decisions are a "Ron question", and Rivera has no history with DeHaven prior to his joining the Panthers.  Rivera also "reassigned" college teammate and longtime friend Richard Rodgers this past offseason. 

He can certainly make tough decisions, though he's definitely not an a--hole.

 

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Bartin Collaborator

Bartin

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The only real way to move on from DeHaven would be to encourage him to retire to focus on his health while still paying him the remainder of his contract assuming it is for more than 1 year.

According to FO DVOA, the Jets special teams was worse than ours so I'm not real sure April would be the answer if we were to move on from DeHaven. I really don't know anything about who hot potential ST coaches would be though.

Also, April was hired in 2015 so he is not a holdover from Rex Ryan's staff.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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13 minutes ago, Bartin said:

The only real way to move on from DeHaven would be to encourage him to retire to focus on his health while still paying him the remainder of his contract assuming it is for more than 1 year.

According to FO DVOA, the Jets special teams was worse than ours so I'm not real sure April would be the answer if we were to move on from DeHaven. I really don't know anything about who hot potential ST coaches would be though.

Also, April was hired in 2015 so he is not a holdover from Rex Ryan's staff.

Yeah, I read that part wrong in an article about him.  Fixing...

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KB_fan Proficient

KB_fan

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I've been curious about how our ST stats this year compare to last year..., and I'm hoping that's something I can dig into a bit.  Not doing much today, since I'm still on vacation, so maybe I can do a little comparison.

Obviously we had some very visible issues (blocked kicks, and allowing 2 return TDs, if I'm remembering correctly).

But, there was also noticeable improvement on punt return and punt coverage, and Gano had an excellent touchback percentage.  We had 1 return TD nullified by a stupid penalty...  And much of the year we had very good starting field position.  I'm sure it has to be much better than last season.

One thing I'm also wanting to look into, but many of our ST players (perhaps a majority?) were new to the team this year...  Teddy Williams, Ben Jacobs, David Mayo, Shaq, Marlowe  Oher, Daryl Williams, Simonson, so there could be a continuity issue.  But of course, that's probably often the case with ST, as good ST players may often move up to play on O or D meaning new team members on ST each season...

So, anyway, count me in as someone who'd be willing to give DeHaven & Purnell a second chance.

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Fox007 Grand Master

Fox007

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Our STs improved a lot basically because of Ginn's return ability on punts.

Aside from that the coverage hasn't been all that super...but still I think it was an improvement overall...we had the most blocked kicks I believe so that's obviously a sign of not self scouting or fixing a clear tell or issue on that unit...

I think we still need a bit more overall team speed especially in the secondary(starters and backups) and WR group(backup/STs).

 

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Bartin Collaborator

Bartin

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The Giants had a pretty good special teams unit this year though some credit does need to go to the signing of Dwayne Harris. Their ST coach may be available if the new coach wants to bring in his own staff. He's been there for 10 years so there would have been crossover and familiarity with Gettleman.

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