I like objectivity. So ill converse.
I dont think I said they kicked great because of Patke. I was responding to the poster who said they were great before patke. That wasn't true.
Either way, kicking is a specialty niche. Most STs coaches don't teach that. That is up to trainers.
I ST coach should be judged on blocked punts, kicks, and kickoff coverage units. Thats really all that is in his control. I thought for the most part those units did well. One blocked kick and one kick returned for a td. Not that bad. Could be better though, but certainly not worthy of the hate he gets on here.
I appreciate this response, and I agree with nearly every word you wrote, except for the two bolded sentences.
On the first bolded point, here's what we know:
Overall, our kick/punt coverage/return stats are below average for the FBS.
We allowed one blocked kick, but managed to block three kicks ourselves.
We only allowed one kick return TD.
We were well above average in touchbacks per kickoff thanks to our stud kicker (fewer touchbacks could have resulted in our subpar kickoff coverage being exposed for more TDs).
We did not return a punt or kickoff for a TD all season.
I have not gone back to count, but I am fairly confident we muffed at least 10 punts last season.
In light of the above, I come to the conclusion that outside of Jose, Hedley, and Clay James (our long snapper deserves some love, too), our special teams play was bad.
On the second bolded point, I suspect his name keeps getting brought up negatively because: (1) some people feel a strong urge to defend Patke and want to give him credit for the excellent kicking and punting we had last season, which has more to do with trainers, effort, and private coaches; and (2) Patke is also a subpar recruiter, and many people on this board are of the opinion that the ST coach is a place where you should load up with a recruiting ace.