New Special Teams Coach

[KiDcUdI]

Rumors are that the Packers are paying top dollar for Bisaccia. He will be the highest paid STs coordinator in the league at $2M.

I never believed they needed to pay top dollar for the position but for coaches where there isn’t a salary cap you shouldn’t be trying to low ball either. Especially when you are saying you’re going “all in.”

The Packers brass from front office to head coach has been an embarrassment over the past decade plus on special teams. They have consistently failed at coverage units, returners, but they have by far exceeded a level of incompetency that I have trouble comprehending at punter. Honest to god when was the last time we had a good solid punter? I mean hell even this year we get an ok punter but he’s somehow a dogshit holder. Even then he stunk it up as the season winded down.

I just really have trouble coming to grips with a special teams unit that has routinely finished last or damn near close to last in that journalist STs rankings. Finally after years of putting out a product well below mediocrity the front office figures out they need to take drastic measures. Late as usual.

 

[ARPackFan]

They low balled Darren Rizzi a few years back...he was also a very well respected special teams coordinator that would likely have put a much more competent unit on the field

I am very happy the Packers have gone out and hired a coach that has a proven track record with special teams and paid him appropriately. On the the flip side I would like to know why Darren Rizzi was low balled on an offer and who made that decision. I'm sure we will never know as it would be an admission by someone in the front office that they F'd up. It is not just the team and coaches that are responsible for wins and losses as it requires an entire organization doing things the right way to achieve success.

"But if the Packers are willing to reset the market for special teams coaches and offer Bisaccia around $2 million per year, it could tip the scales their way. It would be a complete reversal of the way the franchise has approached special teams, preferring not to invest a lot of money in coaching contracts."

https://www.packersnews.com/story/s...isaccia-special-teams-coordinator/6675672001/

 

[thequick12]

I am very happy the Packers have gone out and hired a coach that has a proven track record with special teams and paid him appropriately. On the the flip side I would like to know why Darren Rizzi was low balled on an offer and who made that decision. I'm sure we will never know as it would be an admission by someone in the front office that they F'd up. It is not just the team and coaches that are responsible for wins and losses as it requires an entire organization doing things the right way to achieve success.

"But if the Packers are willing to reset the market for special teams coaches and offer Bisaccia around $2 million per year, it could tip the scales their way. It would be a complete reversal of the way the franchise has approached special teams, preferring not to invest a lot of money in coaching contracts."

https://www.packersnews.com/story/s...isaccia-special-teams-coordinator/6675672001/

Yeah idk id assume thats a Mark Murphy thing because why would MLF, Gute, or Russ Ball care about how much they had to pay a coach as it has zero impact on the salary cap...and it could if had a huge impact on the field for say half/ a million more per

In my opinion they should always be offering top dollar to coaches and maybe they do at other positions idk

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Yeah idk id assume thats a Mark Murphy thing because why would MLF, Gute, or Russ Ball care about how much they had to pay a coach as it has zero impact on the salary cap...and it could if had a huge impact on the field for say half/ a million more per

In my opinion they should always be offering top dollar to coaches and maybe they do at other positions idk

I wouldn't pin that solely on Murphy. There is a 7 member Executive Committee, which Murphy is 1 member of. They very well could set coaches wages, whether individually or as a collective pool.

I could be wrong, but some people tend to blame Gute and Murphy for some decisions, decisions that I don't think are theirs to fully make on their own.

 

[thequick12]

I wouldn't pin that solely on Murphy. There is a 7 member Executive Committee, which Murphy is 1 member of. They very well could set coaches wages, whether individually or as a collective pool.

I could be wrong, but some people tend to blame Gute and Murphy for some decisions, decisions that I don't think are theirs to fully make on their own.

Fair enough I guess I wasnt intending to say it was soley mark murphys decision, it could be...I admittedly have no clue about how any of that E board stuff works

But I was definitely saying I dont see any reason MLF, Gute, or Ball wouldnt be all for paying coaches top dollar. So I highly doubt its any of their decisions. Its the one area you can significantly improve your chances for both team and individual success, especially those 3, without any league imposed restrictions

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Fair enough I guess I wasnt intending to say it was soley mark murphys decision, it could be...I admittedly have no clue about how any of that E board stuff works

But I was definitely saying I dont see any reason MLF, Gute, or Ball wouldnt be all for paying coaches top dollar. So I highly doubt its any of their decisions. Its the one area you can significantly improve your chances for both team and individual success, especially those 3, without any league imposed restrictions

Honestly, I don't know the big picture on the structure and decision making power either. I just always got the impression that Murphy was more in charge of business decisions and Gute, the Football side of things. With the Board, overlooking and offering guidance.

You are right though, if there isn't a "cap" on how much a team can spend on coaching, you would think that salaries would almost spiral up and out of control, with the richest teams paying the most for supposedly "the best" coaches. That is one area of the NFL and the Packers that I haven't read a lot about and I don't know if it is something many teams make public either.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Bisaccia wasn't available during the season

I was obviously talking about firing Drayton.

In my opinion they should always be offering top dollar to coaches and maybe they do at other positions idk

That could backfire pretty fast when hiring coaches who end up not working out. Especially as the Packers don't have a rich owner to bail them out.

 

[El Guapo]

I was obviously talking about firing Drayton.

...and replacing him with whom mid-season? The final analysis of Drayton was that he was terrible. I just don't always buy the general mantra of "anyone" would have been better. Believe it or not, things could have been worse with an incompetent mid-season hire.

 

[Half Empty]

...and replacing him with whom mid-season? The final analysis of Drayton was that he was terrible. I just don't always buy the general mantra of "anyone" would have been better. Believe it or not, things could have been worse with an incompetent mid-season hire.

Hard to know in what way to respond, either adding to the "hilarious" tag or asking for an explanation of how things could have been worse. I remember thinking that one of us could have taken over, pointed to 11 random players, said "go out there and decide how you want to kick/receive among yourselves" and had at least as successful rest of the season.

 

[El Guapo]

Drayton was down right terrible. There was a point where it seemed like things were improving, and then they all went from bad to terrible at the time that we all suspected - the playoffs.

That said, I just find it hard to think that "anybody" could have gone in there and made it better. There is the very real possibility that things could get worse if somebody came in and tried to make changes mid-season. Then it also goes to my main question. Who would we get? The forum seems united on the "do not promote from within" mantra, so who is available? I imagine that it is a pool of inexperienced coaches not already on somebody's staff, or a coaching relic that nobody else wanted at the beginning of the season.

It's a legitimate question. Making a change sounds good on the internet, but when you are the coach, what are your real options at that point? It sounded like LaFleur circled the wagons, asking all of his coaches to pitch in on special teams. It didn't work. Was hiring a newby or has-been the correct mid-season move?

If you seriously don't know how it could have gotten worse, I'll just throw out some general dysfunction:
- blocked punts or FGs in every game
- the Packers could have given up multiple TD returns each game
- the special teams could have blown blocking assignments on each reception leading to fumbles lost
- we could have played with less than 11 players on multiple occasions

Yes, it could have been worse despite your attempt at humor

 

[Half Empty]

I said the replacement would have

pointed to 11 random players

so this wouldn't have happened

- we could have played with less than 11 players on multiple occasions

 

[thequick12]

That could backfire pretty fast when hiring coaches who end up not working out. Especially as the Packers don't have a rich owner to bail them out.

Yeah they dont have a rich owner but what they do have is a rabid fan base willing to bail them out by spending more than $64.5 million during the packers latest stock sale alone

 

[Deleted member 6794]

...and replacing him with whom mid-season? The final analysis of Drayton was that he was terrible. I just don't always buy the general mantra of "anyone" would have been better. Believe it or not, things could have been worse with an incompetent mid-season hire.

I'm sorry but any NFL caliber coach could have been able to do a better job than Drayton. The unit was that terrible that it's actually hard to imagine they could have done any worse.

Yeah they dont have a rich owner but what they do have is a rabid fan base willing to bail them out by spending more than $64.5 million during the packers latest stock sale alone

But the Packers aren't allowed to use any of that money to pay for their staff though.

 

[El Guapo]

I'm sorry but any NFL caliber coach could have been able to do a better job than Drayton. The unit was that terrible that it's actually hard to imagine they could have done any worse.

You keep evading the question CaptainWIMM. Who would you have hired mid-season to replace Drayton?

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

You keep evading the question CaptainWIMM. Who would you have hired mid-season to replace Drayton?

Drayton's 6 year old nephew?

 

[Half Empty]

You keep evading the question CaptainWIMM. Who would you have hired mid-season to replace Drayton?

He probably just didn't want to tie up the bandwidth by listing the multitude of names. I would have posted the job online and given first priority to anyone who had coached NFL ST before. If not them, then anyone who coached in the NFL and wanted to try. Then the same for college level. Then the same for HS level. And, of course, make them count to 11 at the interview.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Believe it or not, things could have been worse with an incompetent mid-season hire.

Actually, things did get worse and didn't get better. The playoff loss to the 49'ers was a culmination of a season of really bad special teams play.

I didn't like the hire from Day 1, since Drayton had been a coach under 2 failed ST Coordinators.

The bigger mistake was not firing Drayton mid-season and replace him with just about anyone with a decent knowledge of football and special teams. Were there a ton of capable coaches out there? I doubt a long list, but with the shit show that we kept seeing from Drayton, I would have brought in Brayden Coombs.

 

[thequick12]

But the Packers aren't allowed to use any of that money to pay for their staff though.

Oh wow! That seems weird, i did not know that...but they are able to use it on "something"and then they can use the money they would have otherwise used on "something" on salaries for coaches

 

[sschind]

He probably just didn't want to tie up the bandwidth by listing the multitude of names. I would have posted the job online and given first priority to anyone who had coached NFL ST before. If not them, then anyone who coached in the NFL and wanted to try. Then the same for college level. Then the same for HS level. And, of course, make them count to 11 at the interview.

I can count to 11 if I have my hands in my pockets.


OK 10 1/2

 

[sschind]

Oh wow! That seems weird, i did not know that...but they are able to use it on "something"and then they can use the money they would have otherwise used on "something" on salaries for coaches

They can use it for stadium improvements and outside developments like the Titletown District and the like which do generate income they can use on salaries but you are right, if they don't have spend other money on those things they can spend it on coaches salaries. Of course they can get away with that by saying if we don't have the stock sale we can't make those improvements and its those improvements that keep us competitive.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

You keep evading the question CaptainWIMM. Who would you have hired mid-season to replace Drayton?

That's a futile exercise as I wasn't able to contact any of the coaches possible available to gauge their interest in taking over for Drayton.

But as others have mentioned, anybody with some experience coaching a special teams unit would have been a better option than Drayton.

 

[Wi. Mike now in Florida]

Coaches of course are important in any sport, but as football players,
you should know enough to not fumble the football especially in a playoff game
on your home field without any coaching.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Coaches of course are important in any sport, but as football players,
you should know enough to not fumble the football especially in a playoff game
on your home field without any coaching.

The Packers special teams didn't fumble vs. the Niners but got both a field goal and a punt blocked. That's on the coaching staff.

 

[El Guapo]

That's a futile exercise as I wasn't able to contact any of the coaches possible available to gauge their interest in taking over for Drayton.

But as others have mentioned, anybody with some experience coaching a special teams unit would have been a better option than Drayton.

No, that's a cop-out statement.

 

[OldSchool101]

I would’ve done it. I put an app in.
It’s entirely possible I just missed the cutoff and I know nobody wants to hear my excuses