But Gansz, who began coaching football after being furloughed by Continental in the late 1960s, also could have earned the nickname for the way his special teams units have played during his 22-year NFL coaching career. Gansz has been voted NFL special teams coach of the year in the past and has tutored players such as Lions kick returner Mel Gray, and Chiefs stars Albert Lewis, Lloyd Burress, and Kevin Ross. This past season, the Rams special teams, led by kick returners Tony Horne and Az-Zahir Hakim, was one of the top units in the league. Without them, you can't be a good coach. But I can say that motivation plays a big part.
Players are easy to motivate when they are prepared.
And I keep them on a pretty tight routine. We watch film in the morning, have walk-throughs in practice, and do drill work over and over. The toughest part of the job is dealing with inactive players. When we have to put certain players on the inactive roster before games, it limits what we can do. But I am most of the time, probably.