Special Delivery: Pete Rodriguez

Here it goes: No matter how nervous he might get sometimes as the special teams coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks, the blood, sweat and tears of his work are the last thing you'll see on his sleeve, skin or collar.

"Don't ever let them see you sweat,'' Rodriguez said. "I try to believe in that commercial. You need to have control, and however you handle it, reflects your own personality. Some guys are real vocal and holler and scream. I don't.''

The low-key Rodriguez doesn't like to brag and boast about anything, either, but there are at least two good reasons why his NFL career is something to be studied at length.

Number one, he's become a master technician at one of the most detailed and nerve-rattling positions in professional football: special teams coach.

Number two, his success, which includes being named special teams coach of the decade in 1999, has helped create validation for a longer-range line of inquiry involving hiring practices in the NFL.

The question is simple (and doesn't involve skin color): Why aren't more successful special teams coaches like Rodriguez being considered for head-coaching jobs around the league?

The answer might be found in several theories, most of which deal with the history of the job and the unheralded success of the coaches, particularly Rodriguez, who entered the business as a defensive assistant.

"I would have thought there would have been more special teams coaches hired as head coaches,'' said Frank Gansz, special teams coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. "Pete's one of them. He could coach anything. But I think there haven't been more because offensive coordinators sell tickets. Special teams coordinators don't.''

More to the point, the job didn't even exist until 1969, when head coach George Allen hired Dick Vermeil to be the special teams coach of the Los Angeles Rams. One year later, Marv Levy replaced Vermeil in the same capacity, creating a future triangle of legendary head coaches with special teams backgrounds.

Both Levy and Vermeil went on to coach teams in at least two Super Bowls after being the first two of what would become a larger trend of specialization on special teams in the NFL. By 1981, there were 21 coaches on 28 teams with special teams responsibilities in the NFL, according to NFL records. Two decades later, there are 31 on 31 teams but none that appear to be on most of the hot lists as future NFL head-coaching prospects.

Indeed, Gansz was the first - and last - to be directly hired from a special teams position as head coach when he got promoted with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1987. He lasted two seasons before his departure, inadvertently signaling a moratorium that lingers on today with coaches like Rodriguez, a special teams coach since 1988.

"I think that Frank kind of turned everybody off on it,'' Rodriguez said, taking a light-hearted poke at his friend Gansz, who finished with eight combined wins in two seasons as head coach.

Successful or not, the "Gansz experiment'' does illustrate an important point in the long-term issue. Rodriguez, for example, said it's plausible to assume that NFL owners used the Gansz experience as proof in their minds why special teams promotions don't work, aren't popular and, in the end, don't sell tickets.

"The perception is that head-coaching candidates need to be in a more high-profile position,'' Rodriguez said. "Special teams coordinators are not considered high-profile.''

Most, like Rodriguez, aren't even known to the most avid fans in the NFL despite their popularity with players and the high-wire act they perform every Sunday in the fall.

Call it an under-appreciated job description, to say the least. This is how it goes: Like a head coach, most special teams coordinators work with all the players on the team, creating team-wide relationships unable to be claimed by the coordinators of the offense and the defense.

Like a head coach, they also live and die by the successes and failures of one singular play, be it a blocked punt, a kickoff return for a touchdown or a missed field goal to lose the game.

Life is much different for the other top coaches on staff, in contrast. One, two or three ineffective possessions hardly starts the firing process for the offensive or defensive coordinators.

Quite the contrary, in fact. One bad play call by the offensive coordinator can be forgotten in an instant, giving him lots more wiggle room for failure than a coach like Rodriguez, who needs thick skin (and thick shirts) to keep the sweat from showing on the sleeves and collar.

"Pete is just like a head coach,'' said Manny Matsakis, the special teams coordinator at Texas Tech. (Matsakis is the only exclusive special teams coach in the Big 12 Conference and recently studied Rodriguez during a visit to Seattle in the spring.)

"He's the kind of guy who can go out and manage the whole team,'' Matsakis said. "It gives him such a leadership role. He meets with the whole team, and he's developed a system that's put him in the top five year in and year out.''

Part of his success and longevity can be credited to his cool demeanor and patience, a trait that helped him land his first job in the NFL in 1988.

The story goes like this: Rodriguez, a native of Chicago, had bounced around in college, the Canadian Football League and the USFL as a defensive assistant from 1970-87.

He also served as the head coach at Western Illinois from 1979-82, giving him the right mix of pedigree for a job in the NFL, his destination of choice.

"I had some great success in college but could not get a bite (from the NFL),'' Rodriguez said. "I didn't know the right people. I was ready to say, 'The heck with it. I'll just be a high school coach.'''

As fate would have it, though, he never had to reach that point. Mike Shanahan, the new head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, made him a sales pitch with a catch. If Rodriguez came on board as the Raiders' special teams coach in 1988, Shanahan told him he would make him a defensive assistant by 1989.

Rodriguez agreed, taking on a new full-time role with the understanding he'd be switched to familiar defensive ground one year later.

Needless to say, it didn't happen. Raiders owner Al Davis didn't let Shanahan switch Rodriguez to defense. Davis then fired Shanahan four games into the '89 season, indirectly setting Rodriguez on a special teams career path he never envisioned. Call it fate mixed with talent: a common recipe for most special teams coaching careers in the NFL, including Gansz.

"I didn't think I'd stay on as a special teams coach,'' Gansz said. "I was a defensive coordinator at Navy (1969-72). We worked like crazy on blocking kicks. The more I did it, the more successful I was at it.''

And the rest is history.

Both Rodriguez and Gansz became special-teams lifers, so to speak, excelling in a job few young coaches target as a dream career destination, possibly because it rarely leads to a head-coaching job directly.

"I never envisioned myself coaching special teams,'' Rodriguez said. "I always thought I would be a defensive coordinator, and maybe someday, a head coach.''

Rodriguez's best shot at a head-coaching job came after Dennis Erickson was fired in Seattle in 1998. He was granted an interview for the opening but lost out to Mike Holmgren, the former head coach at Green Bay.

It was the only head-coaching interview he ever received in the NFL despite wild success on special teams and defense, not to mention the administrative skills he developed with his system in Seattle.

"He makes special teams look like offense and defense, whereas for a lot of guys on special teams, they're basically doing schemes'' Matsakis said. "He breaks down the drill unlike anybody I've ever seen. Ninety-nine percent of teams in the country will line up the formations and teach the play. He actually breaks the drill down with individual time, group time and team time like offense and defense.''

His background as a defensive assistant has at least made him an appealing candidate several times with defensive staffs around the league, including Los Angeles and Seattle.

He was hired by Erickson in 1998 as assistant head coach/special teams. Before that, he had become - and still remains - a hot candidate for a defensive position, if not head coach.

"I felt he was one of the best defensive line coaches out there,'' said Greg McMackin, the defensive coordinator under Erickson with Seattle. "When we first got to Seattle, he was a guy we were thinking about getting to come as a defensive line coach because I thought so much of him that way. Now he's been in special teams long enough that he likes it and is his own boss. He likes that aspect of it.''

He likes it so much, in fact, that he might make a good head coach someday.

Right now, though, he remains on course to make his mark as one of the best special teams coaches the game has ever seen.

Just don't expect him to keep himself from aiming for bigger, better things. That's the way it works for the calm and cool Rodriguez, who grew up in inner-city Chicago, within walking distance from old Comiskey Park. "I've looked at places all over the country that have had success over time,'' Matsakis said. "I haven't seen anybody who's had the lasting success he's had other than Frank Gansz. He's the best in the business.'' s

Q&A with Rodriguez

Q: You were a defensive coach before you became a special teams coach. Yet you're responsible for kickers and punters. How involved do you get with coaching the kicking specialists?

A: I've had to learn how to do that. I've been very fortunate in my career to be around some outstanding players, and I think I'm a good judge of talent. I've had some really outstanding kickers. I've learned from them. With kickers and punters, I just stressed the mental aspect of it.

Q: How do you stress the mental aspect of the game with them?

A: The way I look at it, this is their job and their profession. I expect them to be self-motivated. I expect them to work on the things they need to work at, but I don't need to be there watching over their shoulder every day. We tape them and show them, "This is a correction you need to make.'' Then I expect them to make the correction. I hate to stand behind a kicker and punter.

It's like golf. You know when a guy tells you to keep your head down, left arm straight, turn your hips and so forth? Before you know it, you can't think of a thing.

Q. Thirty-five years ago, NFL teams didn't have special teams coaches. Now every team has one. Most colleges still relegate special teams coaching to a position assistant. What do you think of that?

A. It's a full-time job coaching special teams. I don't believe you have enough time to coach tight ends or linebackers and still do the job you want on special teams. I know there's still a guy or two who does that, but I don't think I want to do that.

Q. Despite the proliferation of special teams coaches in the NFL, almost none have been directly promoted to a head-coaching job. Why is this so?

A. I think it's mostly the perceptions that the special teams coach is not a significant member on a staff, that the guys who have the most influence are the offensive and defensive coordinators. A lot of people think the special teams coach is kind of a training-ground position, where you spend a few years as the special teams coach and then move to another position.

Q. But don't you think successful special teams coaches like yourself are raising the profile of the position?

A. I would hope so. I think we have a number of guys who are capable of being head coaches. They're the only coach on the staff who gets to talk to the entire football team in meetings. You deal with every player on the team. You have to organize your own practices and develop your own game plan. It's a great position for preparing you to be head coach, but, as I said, that's not the perception today.

Q. Unlike the offensive and defensive coordinators, a special teams coach has little margin for error. His job can sway with one good or bad play like a blocked punt or kickoff return for a touchdown. How do you deal with nerves in your job?

A. It's a personality thing. I look at a guy like (Tampa Bay head coach) Tony Dungy. I really admire the way he coaches because you very seldom see him get really down or so excited. To be honest, the thing that's helped the most over the years is my Christian faith. I really believe my faith has helped me an awful lot in that area.

Q. It's safe to say you need thick skin for the job. Is that how you look at it?

A. Coaching special teams is a unique thing. As you said, the offense can throw an interception for a touchdown, and they say, "Well, we're going to have a lot more chances.'' You don't get second chances on special teams. You go out and get a punt blocked, that loses the game for you. That's what everybody points to. Even when you get a punt blocked and win the game, it's hard to enjoy the victory.

Q. What makes your system unique?

A. I don't know if it's unique. I believe in simplicity. I believe in coaching fundamentals and technique and making players get better. I'm not a big scheme guy. I don't try to fool you.

Q. Your entire career in the NFL since 1988 has been on special teams. Have you ever thought about going back to coach defense?

A. I did get a couple opportunities to coach defense, but the timing wasn't right or the job wasn't right. So I continued to coach special teams. The next thing I know, I'm a special teams guy.

Q. What's the key to your success?

A. I look at it as I'm a football coach. Whatever I'd coach, I'd coach the same way within my personality. I'm a guy that has high expectations. I have an attitude where I think I can make a difference in whatever I do, whether it's my family life, my Christian life or coaching life.

You need to have control, and however you handle it, reflects your own personality. Some guys are real vocal and holler and scream. I don't.

The Rodriguez File
1968-69
1970-73
1974-75
1976-78
1979-82
1983-84
1985
1986
1987
1988-89
1990-93
1994-97
1998
1999-00University of Arizona
Western Illinois
Florida State
Iowa State
Western Illinois
Michigan Panthers (USFL)
Denver Gold (USFL)
Jacksonville Bulls (USFL)
Ottawa Rough Riders (CFL)
Los Angeles Raiders
Phoenix Cardinals
Washington Redskins
Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks Graduate Assistant
Defensive Coordinator
Defensive Coordinator
Defensive Coordinator
Head Coach
Defensive Line
Defensive Line
Defensive Line
Defensive Line
Special Teams
Special Teams
Special Teams
Ass. Head Coach/Special Teams
Special Teams Coordinator