 Mike HlasHi, I'm Gazette/TheGazette.com sports columnist Mike Hlas. This is the Hlog. We will meet here, discuss things, and then go [...] |
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Iowa RBs coach has never been RBs coach
But Chris White has 12 years of college and NFL experience as special teams coach
Pete Roussel of CoachingSearch.com gets credit for being the first to report Minnesota Vikings special teams assistant Chris White will be Iowa’s running backs/special teams coach.
Here is White’s resume.
2009-2012 – Special teams assistant, Vikings
2005-2008 – Syracuse, wide receivers coach
2004 - Syracuse, tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator
2000-2003 – Syracuse, tight ends coach and special teams coordinator
1999 – Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator
1996-1998 – UNLV, linebackers coach and special teams coordinator
1994-1996 – Bishop Manogue High School (Reno, Nev.), head coach
1993 – Holy Cross, quarterbacks coach
1992 – Arkansas, graduate assistant
1990-1991 – Syracuse, graduate assistant
As you can see, “running backs coach” isn’t part of the 45-year-old White’s resume. But 12 years of special teams coaching is, and he is also Iowa’s new special teams coach. If you were hiring someone to do both, I’d rather have someone with 12 years of special teams-coaching under his belt (including four in the NFL) than 12 years of coaching running backs.
Special teams has been and perhaps always will be an undervalued part of a football team. If you can upgrade your performance there, it will almost certainly show up in the won-lost record by year’s end. Living in the present, running backs Damon Bullock and Mark Weisman are pretty good.
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Good. Now maybe we can figure out that whole “what do we do on an on-sides kick” thing.
Yes, Mike W. And also the “Watch for the fake punt thing.” If the Hawkeyes had simply been able to handle those two things: onside kicks and fake punts, they’d have won 3 or 4 more games the last few years AND, in 2010, cover the fake punt against Wisconsin, you win that game and you probably win the Big Ten championship and go to the Rose Bowl.
So Mike H., you’re couldn’t be more correct. Special teams matter, and special teams can win–or lose–at least a couple games a year. So let’s hope the Hawkeyes and new coach White can really makes special teams special again.
If this guy switches Mark Weisman out of the running back role and puts him in a more “traditional” place, like fullback, out of some weird desire to shake things up, I am going to start watching Irish curling instead. Yes, we need help on special teams and I think White can make a difference there if KF will let him, but he was a recruiter, too, and God knows we need help in THAT department! If KF will let him. Maybe in California, where he may still have some contacts.