Games can be both won and lost on special teams. Bates College special teams coordinator and defensive line coach Garrett McLaughlin realizes this, and he tries to energize his players to focus on every detail in the third phase of the game. After being a student assistant at Syracuse University and serving as the defensive backs coach at SUNY Buffalo, Coach McLaughlin took his coaching acumen to Maine and joined the Bates staff in 2018. Throughout his career, Coach McLaughlin has coached a multitude of position groups, and he has used his various experiences to help coach his players on special teams. On today’s episode of the Coach and Coordinator podcast, we analyze Coach McLaughlin’s fourth down mentality and how he’s guided his players at Bates College. 

0:20 Intro
1:20 Coach McLaughlin’s journey
3:27 Experience at Bates College
5:08 Install 
6:34 4th Down Mentality 
8:32 Organizing drills during practice
11:48 Dividing up coaching assignments 
15:30 Punt block/return
16:14 Practice time dedicated to special teams
18:26 Opponent scouting 
22:05 Recognizing individual achievements 
23:09 Coaching special teams and the defensive line
24:37 The winning edge

You can follow Coach McLaughlin on Twitter here: @_coachg_
Coach McLaughlin also has a Twitter account dedicated to special teams: @talk_teams

Check out our systems for skill development in blocking, defeating blocks and tackling at footballdevelopment.com. Follow us daily on Twitter for content and interaction @FBDevCoach and be sure to check out X's and O's analysis at blogs.usafootball.com.