Does being different make a difference?

you'd have to be good at coaching different for it to make e difference, no? Being different doesn't work without knowledge of the scheme and how to communicate it. I know guys that run single wing as a 'package' but sucked at teaching it which means it didn't work. But Darlington has made it work everywhere 

I feel like I did that when I was a head coach..... I ran an offense that I didn't face once in 28 years of coaching. I think it helped us and made us harder to prepare for. But I spend years learning and mastering the offense and it fit the kids I had.

Coach, would love to hear a little more about how you are different on Special Teams - what do you guys do to be different?

This is solid. No one has taken issue with what you posted, so I want someone to tell me/explain to me why people balk at the idea that in football sometimes there actually are better ways of doing things than others and that not all ways of doing things are created equal, and why people get their underwear in a wad when people suggest that some people are better at coaching something than others, and might just know more than some HS-level slappy.

Is Rick Darlington a better Single Wing coach than me? Buddy you better bet your @$$ he is. But if we were having a completely separate discussion and myself or someone else suggested that so and so is better at coaching than some HS-level coach, and knows better than the HS coach, suddenly people would descend from the rafters to crucify me/them for suggesting this, how dare I/they suggest something like that.

It seems to be very inconsistent and/or contextual (this is a discussion whereas at other times it might be an argument/debate) as far as how people react to this.

do that on o and st in dfw and you have a chance

totally agree

I believe it does but like others have said you better be able to coach it up.

The problem with being different is if you are getting beat you’re in the hot seat real quick.

Also, sometimes being different and not having “enough” success will put you in the hot seat.

The general public is dumb as fuk about sports for the most part. If you’re running the power spread and getting flamed the crowd blames the kids. If you’re under center getting flamed you’re fired.

Sure thing - I break it down into two categories...in some special teams we will try to gain an edge ("be different") through presentation/scheme, in others we will try to gain that difference through effort.

Difference in Presentation/Scheme

Kickoff: We've done a variety of things to show this differently...it has been kind of a progression a few years back we had a standard alignment with pinpointed sky and squib kicks, then we went to a 6x4 alignment into the boundary to pin the return team, lately we've been trying to do both of those things through a two kicker system.  Both kickers approach the ball and we can kick onside, sky, and corner kicks to both sides.  We've gotten 1-2 turnovers out of it but the best for us has been sky-ing it to about the 20 or so to either side, which leads to a lot of fair catches, muffs, etc.  If you figure out one kid can't catch just kick it at him.

Extra Point: From the swinging gate alignment we will have a 2-point play to both sides based on numbers, or shift to a standard field goal alignment.  We add additional progressions each week...it's 5 or so minutes out of our practice because we start repping it in July, but the hope is other teams have to spend more time preparing for it.  We've probably shown 7-8 different things out of this over the last two years.

Punt: This is a little closer to standard but we will put our best athlete as punter even if he can't kick and then rugby punt to his throwing side 99% of the time.  We keep our OL in and they block OZ, within certain parameters he has the option to run it.  We also have a couple fakes available out of this.  In the past we've messed around with two punters some as well.

Difference Through Effort

Punt Block/Return: We put a heavy emphasis into scheming up 1-2 punt block schemes every week based on the opposing team's punt scheme.  Usually this is with the defense on the field, though sometimes we have a couple substitutions.  We gas these kids up and put a high priority on pressuring the punter. We do the same for field goal block, though we have been less successful in this area.

KOR: In the past we did a Starburst return, which would have gone above.  The last couple years we've just had one return and prioritized a couple blocks.  This is something where we teach the kids from the get go that there are hidden yards to be gained and that one high effort play can equate to multiple first downs.  I think we took one to the house last year but we had a lot of returns approaching midfield. 

We could probably put kickoff in this category as well, we really hand select the kids that are aggressive, high effort kids that may or may not see the field elsewhere.  In general, we would rather have a starter out for 1-2 special teams and be successful in them than sub everyone out and have sub-par special teams units.

Lets discuss this hypothetical.....
Is it better to be different at something you only know the basics of? Something that is new to you that you are willing to learn, but are not an "expert" at like the single wing or shotgun double wing.

or

Run something you know the ins and outs of really well, but you do not have the players to beat alot of the teams that you have to play because they are simply better than you? Like a generic 10/11 personnel offense.

I agree that using wrinkles like this can be a big plus. We did find out the hard way that, if you use player-option PAT fakes, you need to be super-clear in communicating with the players. We had two cases where it blew up on us in completely different situations.

Once we had that swinging gate PAT that you described. The center- a smart, experienced kid- had the option of calling the gate in and just kicking it or, if he had numbers, throwing it out to the "gate" for the 2 points. In a close game the center took too long, the defense adjusted (We saw it happening and were screaming, "No, no!") and it was a debacle. Fortunately, we won anyway.

A few years later we gave the holder the option of calling for a pass if he liked what he saw. This time it worked. Trouble was that made the score 56-0. As you might imagine, the other coach was hot. Fortunately, he calmed down (After a week or two) when we explained what happened.

On the plus side, our punt block gave us a huge advantage. One game the opposing punter blocked his own punt. They were kicking out of their end zone and the kick went out of the EZ for a safety. Strange thing was, none of the kids could tell us who blocked it. On film we saw what happened: The punter was so worried about getting it blocked that he kicked it up, over his head, and backward. 

I'll go with option 1.

Not sure what I'm referring to in terms of specific examples, or just the general principle of what I was talking about?

I had to learn flexbone ,  

disagree to a point

understanding the idea and skills etc,  sure

understanding howto fix stuff, or even recognizing what is wrong or just slightly off,  takes time and experience,  it took us a full year to feel like we knew this stuff,  and that was with a 30 year coach from Kenny Wheaton coaching tree on staff with us.  (my mentor in flexbone)