Porter To Be New Special Teams Cordinator

[aufan57 922]

Porter to be Special Teams Coordinator

 

[ellitor 33,062]

^^^^^ This needed it's own thread.

Porter will not be handling ST duties alone. Full article from the above tweet.

Quote

 

AUBURN, Alabama — Auburn tight ends coach Larry Porter will take on duties as Auburn's special teams coordinator during the 2018 season, a person familiar with the decision informed Auburn Undercover Wednesday.

Auburn is set to begin spring practices Thursday at 4 p.m. CT.

Porter takes over the duties held the last two seasons by Tim Horton, who coached special teams after the departure of Scott Fountain following the 2015 season. Horton's special teams unit struggled in 2017, especially in punting and in the return units. Auburn ranked 115th nationally in net punting (35.61 yards) and struggled in the return game, ranking 51st in punt returns (8.5 yards).

Porter will coach tight ends and fullbacks, and will serve as the special teams coordinator when spring practices begin Thursday. Horton will coach punt returns, Porter will handle punters and kickoff returns, and linebackers coach Travis Williams will coach kickoffs, the person familiar with the decision told Auburn Undercover.

Auburn loses its record-breaking kicker, Daniel Carlson, who holds the SEC career scoring record. He will likely be replaced by Anders Carlson, his youngest brother. Meanwhile, competition at punt and kick return is expected to be wide open, though receiver Ryan Davis could be heavily involved on punt return duties once again.

Ian Shannon and Aidan Marshall will continue to battle at punter, but newcomer Arryn Siposs is expected to be the frontrunner for the job when he arrives in the summer. The former professional Aussie rules football player earned a scholarship with Auburn and signed in February.

 

 

[aufan57 922]

Fountain coached through the 2016 season and Horton took over special teams 2017?

There is a mistake in the article. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Can't do anything but improve in every aspect other than the actual kicking.  I'm sure Porter was also getting board coaching one player who actually saw significant time on the field.

I would be interested to see the breakdown of who coached what last year. All I know is that it was coaching by committee, very much like described above.

[ellitor 33,062]

35 minutes ago, aufan57 said:

Fountain coached through the 2016 season and Horton took over special teams 2017?

There is a mistake in the article. 

There is no mistake in the article.

44 minutes ago, ellitor said:

the duties held the last two seasons by Tim Horton, who coached special teams after the departure of Scott Fountain following the 2015 season.

The last 2 seasons referred is 2016 & 2017. Fountain left in 2015.

[aufan57 922]

1 hour ago, ellitor said:

There is no mistake in the article.

The last 2 seasons referred is 2016 & 2017. Fountain left in 2015.

The linked article will confirm that Scott Fountain left Auburn after the 2016 season, after 4 seasons as TE and ST coach. Horton took over special teams coordinator for 2017. Marcello did not do his homework in the article.

https://auburn.247sports.com/Bolt/Former-Auburn-coach-Scott-Fountain-joins-SEC-rivals-staff-52978471

And it's funny that Marcello wrote the article that I linked to

Marcello has now corrected his article. 

[AU64 10,122]

Guess this is the way it works when you have a staff of a dozen coaches but seems strange to have various coaches handling bits and pieces of the "special teams" effort.....how do you assess performance and results ?  

[SumterAubie 3,031]

So Malzahn fired himself from ST coaching. 

[GwillMac6 20,607]

I know fellow Larry Porter superfan @corchjay WILL BE as THRILLED as I am for this news!!! LETS GO BABY! Porter Coached Special teams at North Carolina and they were really good from what I can remember. Ryan Switzer was a BEAST in Punt Returns. So I wish Porter was coaching Punt Returns and not Horton. I saw nothing from last year to be encouraged to continue to let Horton be the head guy overseeing that.

[corchjay 5,311]

I’m glad we have someone else over the ST.  Porter is hopefully the answer because all aspects of the special teams were really bad last year.  Carlton has a good year but could have been great without 4 blocked kicks.   I don’t dislike Porter just think it’s time to earn his pay.  

[IronMan70 3,277]

2 hours ago, AU64 said:

Guess this is the way it works when you have a staff of a dozen coaches but seems strange to have various coaches handling bits and pieces of the "special teams" effort.....how do you assess performance and results ?  

I guess it's a way to get a more detailed look for each assigned area of responsibility. We need some improvement for sure so we'll see how it works. 

[AU64 10,122]

5 minutes ago, IronMan70 said:

I guess it's a way to get a more detailed look for each assigned area of responsibility. We need some improvement for sure so we'll see how it works. 

Age of specialization.    what I would like to see is a lock down capability on kick offs and punts.   Also a KO return unit that provides an even possibility of getting the ball to the 30 at least half the time.     I'm still ok if the punt returner just catches that ball every time.....and any yardage is a bonus.  

[Mikey 16,550]

I hope this signals that someone is at least concerned about the horrible SP play last season. At one point late in the year we were dead last in kickoff coverage and that hurt us in some games. I think we have coaches on staff that are capable of correcting this situation, but ST will need more practice time and attention dedicated to it. That's Gus's call and I hope these changes are a sign that he is in the process of answering it.

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 hours ago, Mikey said:

I hope this signals that someone is at least concerned about the horrible SP play last season. At one point late in the year we were dead last in kickoff coverage and that hurt us in some games. I think we have coaches on staff that are capable of correcting this situation, but ST will need more practice time and attention dedicated to it. That's Gus's call and I hope these changes are a sign that he is in the process of answering it.

That's sorta my take, also. Just do something to address the deficiencies. Usually it results in improvement.

The one thing that never seems to help is slapping a band-aid on a problem by spreading an existing coach too thin (or taking him out of his element) when another coach leaves. I think that's what happened when Fountain left and they gave ST to Horton. (The most obvious and enduring example will, hopefully, continue to be the Nallsminger debacle.) I don't think that's what's happening with Porter. I think they're taking an underutilized guy on staff who has expertise in this area and better utilizing him. Hopefully.

Agree with those who are curious about all the cooks in the kitchen, though. A cynic could look at it as a function of Gus's trust problem. It could be telling that Porter is receiving "assistance" from perhaps Gus's 2 top lieutenants. An optimist could view it as an analytical approach playing to everyone's strengths. We'll see. 

[corchjay 5,311]

Still kind of by committee...

 

Horton will coach punt returns, Porter will handle punters and kickoff returns, and linebackers coach Travis Williams will coach kickoffs, the person familiar with the decision told Auburn Undercover.

[aufan57 922]

6 minutes ago, corchjay said:

Still kind of by committee...

 

Horton will coach punt returns, Porter will handle punters and kickoff returns, and linebackers coach Travis Williams will coach kickoffs, the person familiar with the decision told Auburn Undercover.

You have an offensive coordinator and position coaches the same on defense. So why wouldn't it make sense to have a special teams coordinator and coaches handling different aspects of the special teams? 

[kd4au 1,145]

I just hope we can improve. Last season was some really bad ST play. Maybe this will be a positive move.

[Tiger 8,817]

Does any other school take this approach? Dividing special teams into 3 separate coaches?

[TigerFanAU 586]

57 minutes ago, kd4au said:

I just hope we can improve. Last season was some really bad ST play. Maybe this will be a positive move.

it was awful. The LSU game comes to mind and makes me cringe.

[aufan57 922]

1 hour ago, Tiger said:

Does any other school take this approach? Dividing special teams into 3 separate coaches?

Does the offensive coordinator coach all positions on the offense and same with defensive coordinator? Why should special teams be different? Could one guy coach kickers, punt returns, kickoff returns, punt coverage, kickoff coverage? Functions of special teams are too varied to leave to one coach. 

 While the # of plays on special teams are limited, one bad play can be the difference between a win & loss. I like this approach and it brings some accountability. Improvement is coming. 

[AUApostle 7,648]

I hope Porter is all over the Youtube research this week.

[Tiger 8,817]

8 minutes ago, aufan57 said:

Does the offensive coordinator coach all positions on the offense and same with defensive coordinator? Why should special teams be different? Could one guy coach kickers, punt returns, kickoff returns, punt coverage, kickoff coverage? Functions of special teams are too varied to leave to one coach. 

 While the # of plays on special teams are limited, one bad play can be the difference between a win & loss. I like this approach and it brings some accountability. Improvement is coming. 

Well I was asking was if other programs do this because I don't know. And while you gave a good explanation it still didn't answer my question if other programs spread their special teams coaching over 3 different coaches. 

I just can't tell if this is blind support of Gus or actually based on how head coaches who have been in the game longer than 6 years operate with their special teams. It has been noted Larry Porter coached special teams at UNC and they had a good ST unit. But was he sharing those responsibilities with multiple other guys or was in charge of everything?

[aufan57 922]

Just now, Tiger said:

Well I was asking was if other programs do this because I don't know. And while you gave a good explanation it still didn't answer my question if other programs spread their special teams coaching over 3 different coaches. 

I just can't tell if this is blind support of Gus or actually based on how head coaches who have been in the game longer than 6 years operate with their special teams. It has been noted Larry Porter coached special teams at UNC and they had a good ST unit. But was he sharing those responsibilities with multiple other guys or was in charge of everything?

Why does it matter what other teams do? Is there a right way and wrong way? 

[AUWALT 10]

I see no problem with different coaches handling the different parts of Special teams. 

Example: Kickoffs and Kickoff returns are two totally different animals  

[McLoofus 35,182]

18 minutes ago, aufan57 said:

Why does it matter what other teams do? Is there a right way and wrong way? 

This sport has been played for well over 100 years now. Some things that work and some things that don't work have been figured out. It's not a ridiculous question to ask. If you don't know the answer, just say so.

9 minutes ago, AUWALT said:

I see no problem with different coaches handling the different parts of Special teams. 

Example: Kickoffs and Kickoff returns are two totally different animals  

This is getting a lot closer to an informative response.