Iowa has made Coach LaVar Woods their dedicated ST Coordinator, after the NCAA allowed one more Coach several years ago.
He was asked about it today.
KIRK FERENTZ: Appreciate that.
Q. It was pretty much seven, eight years ago there were a lot of mistakes, especially fake punts, onside kicks you guys liked to go through. That hasn't been the case. It seems like LeVar has helped stabilize that. What ways have you shored up specialized teams? Last year I think it was rated the best unit in the country.
KIRK FERENTZ: I don't thank the NCAA for much publicly, so I'll take this opportunity since you teed it up for me. I'll thank them for allowing us to expand our catching staff. And there's a reason why the NFL teams have had special teams coaches, really it probably started back in the 70s, I guess. Coach Belichick was on the front end of that.
But, yes, it's a world of difference. Those guys, in my opinion, have always kind of been cheated a little bit, especially the specialists. You know, people without a country in some ways. They just kind of float. They're nomads. This guy kind of coaches them, but really doesn't because he's got another position to coach and all that kind of thing. So I think the ability, first of all, for the specialists, just for them to meet with LeVar daily just like everybody else does with their position coaches, I think that's been huge. And then to have a coach who's solely focused on the schemes, the calls, strategies, all those things. That's a whole world within the world of football. So that part's all been good, I think, but the rule enabled us to do that.
The only other way you could do was to cheat it, which we tried a little bit. Maybe having a grad assistant coach at tight ends or at different positions, but I think that's helped, and then the other component here is that LeVar has really grown into that role, really embraced it and grown into it, and that's how he made his living in the NFL, being a good special teams player. So he can fully appreciate the value of it and what goes into it and what difference it can make. So he's engrossed himself in it. Wasn't an expert necessarily on the specialist part of it, but has really expanded his knowledge there, and that's been great. And so I think it's been a really good combination.
And it's been fun to watch. It's fun to watch players. Terry Roberts is a great example. I think he's grown into a good football player through special teams. We've had that all throughout the years, but now they're getting a little more attention that way, and they can go meet with Coach Woods and get one-on-one coaching, which was a little tougher back in the old days, if you will. So I think it's been great for us, and it's a huge part. It's always been a huge part of our program thinking wise.