Chants thriving with special emphasis on special teams

Twice a week in his scheduled media sessions, each Wednesday to forecast the upcoming opponent and Saturdays after the game, Coastal Carolina football coach Joe Moglia gives his assessment of how he feels the Chanticleers are handling the three phases of the game.

Always all three.

He’s been vocal at times about the shortcomings on defense certain weeks. He’s even critiqued the Chants’ usually reliable offense, bemoaning excessive penalties and red zone mishaps.

But in regard to special teams, Moglia has had nothing but praise … and pride.

From the time he took over in Conway nearly four years ago, Moglia has emphasized special teams as much if not more than most college programs and the Chants continue to reap the benefits.

“Across the board special teams are outstanding and they have been all season,” Moglia said in his latest news conference this Wednesday. “Our special teams are playing at a championship level.”

As they head into the start of Big South play this week with a home game against Presbyterian on Saturday at Brooks Stadium, the No. 1/2-ranked Chants rank first in the conference in punt returns (15.5 yards per attempt), kickoff returns (26.4 yards per attempt), kickoff return touchdowns (2), kickoff return defense (15.48 yards per return allowed), kicking points (7.8 per game) and PATs (18-of-18) and rank second in net punting (35.6 yards per punt) and field goal percentage (7-of-10, including 7-of-9 from Ryan Granger).

Coastal Carolina (5-0) has been so smothering on its coverage units that none of its first five opponents have even attempted a single punt return against freshman punter Evan Rabon or sophomore Masamitsu Ishibashi. The Chants are the only FCS team and one of only two teams across Division I and Division II that can make that claim, and they rank eighth in the entire FCS in kick return defense (15.48 yards per return).

For comparison’s sake, Coastal Carolina’s average starting field positions is at the 36 while its opponents are starting at the 19.

“Because we firmly believe in special teams as a staff from the top down with Coach Moglia, to see it show up on game day is extremely rewarding because we actually believe in it,” said assistant coach Renato Diaz, who coordinates the team’s kick return unit as well as the punt returners.

“There’s some programs that pay lip service to special teams and they don’t put a lot of time and effort into it, some put a lot of time and effort into it but they really don’t believe in it as much, but we firmly believe in special teams being a difference-maker, a competitive advantage for us and because of that when we see it actually crystallize on the field on Saturdays it’s extremely rewarding.”

Coastal Carolina fans are plenty familiar with what junior Devin Brown does on Saturdays, with his Big South-record five career kickoff return touchdowns that have him one away from tying the FCS record and his FCS-best 38.1 yards per kick return that now deters some opponents from even giving him a chance to touch the ball.

The fans are starting to become just as familiar with the big-play abilities of sophomore Chris Jones, who ranks ninth in the FCS in averaging 16.6 yards per punt return.

And the crowd has reverberated time and again with “Oohs” and cheers for junior Kenneth Daniels’ bone-crushing hits on kick coverage, which seem to come on almost a weekly basis.

But most probably don’t know the process behind the productivity, and that’s where the Chants’ approach really differentiates itself.

Moglia has designated six unit coordinators to compartmentalize all aspects of special teams. While Diaz, also the Chants’ receivers coach, game plans and coordinates the kick return unit and works with the punt returners as well, safeties coach Curt Baldus works with the specialists and organizes the punt return unit, cornerbacks coach Curome Cox leads the kick coverage unit, running backs coach Bill Durkin works with the PAT and field goal units, linebackers coach Ryan Goodman coordinates the field goal defense and tight ends coach Nick Jones works on punt coverage.

“It’s very unique and it’s very productive and efficient the way we do it here,” Diaz said. “Other programs, they split up their units and stuff like that, but the way we work together and are able to put all our minds together and all our talents together, obviously led by coach Moglia – he is the moderator so to speak and really makes us think outside the box and makes sure we’re covering all aspects that will give us a competitive advantage – it’s extremely unique in places I’ve been.”

Said Cox: “Normally in a program you have [one] special teams coordinator. That guy has to step out of the [offensive and defensive] meeting and find time to do it. … We hold each other accountable. That’s why we meet as much and communicate. It’s a great operation.”

Moglia explains that it’s simply a more efficient and effective way of approaching it. Every special teams unit coordinator can take a big picture approach of that individual unit – like an offensive or defensive coordinator would do on his respective side of the ball – and while the unit coordinator develops the game plan and takes the lead in that area, the other coaches assist him when that unit is up in practice.

During the week, starting on Tuesdays usually, all of the special teams unit coordinators meet together and collaborate on ideas. As Cox said, for example, he and Diaz are approaching kickoffs from opposing perspectives and may have something to offer the other while breaking down an opponent’s tendencies.

“Pick a team, major college it doesn’t matter, and the special teams coordinator is probably a position coach too,” Moglia said. “… Let’s say you’re the defensive line coach, you’re at the beck and call of the defensive coordinator, I’ve got to be in those meetings. Now in the mean time I’ve got six [special teams] units I’ve got to make sure are prepared, or at least four units, to get prepared and ready to go. I’m probably doing that at midnight on Monday and Tuesday. So I’ve got to come in early, I’ve got to stay later, I’ve got a tremendous amount of responsibility. I never felt that way. I thought it was unfair to the coach. I don’t think it works.

“So if special teams are really, really important and everybody’s got another job to do, you take each one of the six units and you have someone specifically responsible for that. Now he then gets five full-time assistants, he gets the [other] unit coordinators and they in effect work for that guy. … And the other coaches are going to do a great job for him because they need him to do a great job for [their] units.

“So I’ve always thought that just organizing it in a way that’s practical makes sense, [and] then I expect excellence out of each of the unit coordinators.”

For Moglia, this approach crystallized back in his first stretch as a football coach several decades ago.

Working as a high school head coach, he said he incorporated special teams into practice, but “we probably, like most coaches do, tend[ed] to play lip service to it.”

As a collegiate assistant coach at Lafayette, though, he was named the defensive special teams coordinator and started to see that area of the game differently.

“That was my job and I took it just intensely serious, and … we blocked 13 kicks in 10 games. That set a national record,” Moglia recalled. “The impact that our special teams had was just so incredible that when I became the defensive coordinator at Dartmouth I had that same responsibility on special teams, I took that with me, and the difference it made in wins and losses and our effectiveness and our field position was humungous. So that’s always been a priority for me.”

And, perhaps most importantly, that mindset has been adopted by the players as well.

For some, like Daniels – the punishing tackle leader of the team’s aptly named “Hit Squad” – it’s his only opportunity to consistently impact that game, and so he’s embraced that role and the importance his coaches put on it.

“We know special teams plays a big part in the game and can make a difference between winning and losing. And us being as good as we are on special teams, it gives the opponent one more thing to worry about,” Daniels said.

“We practice it every day, we have meetings every day. I feel it’s just as big a part as offense and defense.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Chants thriving with special emphasis on special teams."