Special Teams Organization

Coach and Athletic Director, Dec, 2000 by Ted Gorman

EVERY COACH BELIEVES IN the vital importance of special teams. They are not only willing to put their best players on them, but to allocate the essential practice time.

The special teams coordinator must be just as organized as the offensive and defensive coordinators. And since he may be given only 10 to 12 minutes per day to put in the offensive and defensive punt and punt-return schemes for the game, he must devise a basic and simplistic plan that will enable the special teams to maximize their efficiency.

Time Management

To communicate all this information, the special teams coaches will have to be organized down to the second. They may, for example, seek out their players in the hallway during school hours and tell them what they are going to do in practice that day.

Before practice, as the players are dressing, the coaches may approach individual players and talk to them and diagram their adjustments. This will save time and reinforce the basic information.

The coach responsible for the scout teams should show them the opponents' plays that are made up every week by the special teams coordinator. We usually have a group of 11 to 15 sophomores that we use as our scout team. They are responsible for putting on a practice vest before practice.

During our daily coaches meeting, the special teams are given five minutes to review the techniques and schemes. We don't waste practice time discussing these things. The brief review also puts all the coaches on the same page.

Once or twice a week, the special teams players will be expected to view film. To save time, we cut up a piece of tape for each team and limit the number of technique reps in practice. Our rule is: "No more than 10, no less than four reps."

When working with the punt team, we may say: "Block and cover 10 yards, seven reps, then block and cover the punt three times."

Coaching Assignments

We involve all of the coaches, including the head coach, on special teams. This lets the players know what we think of special teams and how everyone is committed to excellence.

Each coach is given a team playbook at the beginning of the season. The first page contains the coaching assignments, divided into two areas -- overall assignments and the breakdown of each team.

Scouting Report

We have a bulletin board in the locker room for special teams. It displays information about our weekly opponents' special teams. The charts include strengths and weaknesses, personnel, diagrams, punter and kickers' averages, and Big Red Reminders -- phrases such as "Stay in your lanes" (on the kick-off).

We will put up the depth chart on the bulletin board and also post a chart on our weekly objectives.

A coach will mark off the objectives we achieved after each game. The players are reminded to read the board every day.

Motivation

Our film guy makes up the weekly highlight tape for offense, defense, and special teams. The players will watch this tape on Friday nights before the game. They enjoy this and look forward to being on the next week's tape.

We also keep a Hit Chart in our locker room. It is a great motivator for our special teams players. They love to compete against each other. At the end of the season the top three or four players are awarded their helmet at the annual banquet.

Weekly Grade Sheet

The special teams coordinator breaks down the game film on Saturday. Since he also coaches a position on offense and defense, he has to do this before or after the other breakdowns are done. A standard form is used for the breakdowns.

Tentative Practice Schedule

We have a tentative weekly practice schedule that we try to stay on as much as possible, adding or deleting as needed.

MONDAY:

At beginning of practice: Punt (6 min.).

* Punt protection vs scout team (3 min.).

* Punt protection and coverage (3 min.), no more than 10 reps.

* Punt return/block (no more than 10 reps).

During practice: punters, kickers, and long snappers work with head coach.

After practice: short and long snappers work with line coach and return people with WR coach, using punters.

TUESDAY:

At beginning of practice: FG/XP and FG/XP block (12 min.).

During practice: same as Monday.

After practice: short and long snappers with line coach; Return people with WR coach (using punters); A coach will work with punt block personnel.

WEDNESDAY:

At beginning of practice: kick-off and kick-off return (12 min.); Kick-off return vs scout team (4 or 5 reps max); Kick-off return vs scout team (4 reps).

During practice: same as Monday.

After practice: short and long snappers with line coach; Return people with WR coach (using punters); A coach will work with punt-block personnel.

THURSDAY (Pre-Game):

Review all special teams during this practice. Also go over on-side kicks, reverses, hands team, pooch punts, fake punts, and XP/PGs.

FRIDAY (Game Day):

We believe that the best players must be on the field as much as possible. We will rest our best players in non-crucial situations on offense or defense to enable them to play on special teams. That is why you must have total support from the head coach and staff.