Bobby April to Eagles

[quote]Eagles nab Bobby April
Posted by Mike Florio on January 14, 2010 3:47 PM ET
As former Bills special teams coordinator Bobby April was being pursued by the likes of the Steelers and the Redskins, another candidate for his services was gliding under radar.

And that candidate has landed his services.

The Eagles have announced that April has been hired to take over Philly's special teams. He replaces special teams coordinator Ted Daisher.

The fact that the Eagles didn't fire Daisher until they had the newest bird in the hand allowed them to chase April discreetly.

The Eagles also have terminated the contracts of strength and conditioning coach Mike Wolf and assistant strength and conditioning coach Jay Merlino.[/quote]

Crap. That is too bad -- I was really hoping that the Steelers would snag him.

[quote=phillyesq]Crap. That is too bad -- I was really hoping that the Steelers would snag him.[/quote]

Eh. It's Special Teams....they're not important! :wink:

It's almost always a matter of money and we rarely win bidding wars.......

Wasn't April our ST coach in 01'? If memory serves me, our ST sucked that year too.

I wasn't opposed to him, but was he really the be all to STs?
I remember him being really raw raw personality, but how has he done since he left?
I can't remember much about Buffalo except a year or so ago, they Parrish returning well.

[quote=NW Steeler]Wasn't April our ST coach in 01'? If memory serves me, our ST sucked that year too.[/quote]

No, he coached in the mid 90's for a couple of season's....I remember Cowher screaming at the dude a lot, but cant remember our ST's effectiveness.

[quote=aggiebones]I wasn't opposed to him, but was he really the be all to STs?
I remember him being really raw raw personality, but how has he done since he left?
I can't remember much about Buffalo except a year or so ago, they Parrish returning well.[/quote]

I know the Buffalo ST's lost the Pats* opener.... for that reason alone I'm good...

I'm not a coaching specialist but I think fans tend to love coaches AFTER they leave but hated them when they were here. I can't remember one year our ST's was lights out..maybe in the 80's but we sucked so who cares. I liked the onside kick in the 95 SB was the only memory I have of our ST's coming up big.

[quote=feltdizz][quote=aggiebones]I wasn't opposed to him, but was he really the be all to STs?
I remember him being really raw raw personality, but how has he done since he left?
I can't remember much about Buffalo except a year or so ago, they Parrish returning well.[/quote]

I know the Buffalo ST's lost the Pats* opener.... for that reason alone I'm good...

I'm not a coaching specialist but I think fans tend to love coaches AFTER they leave but hated them when they were here. I can't remember one year our ST's was lights out..maybe in the 80's but we sucked so who cares. I liked the onside kick in the 95 SB was the only memory I have of our ST's coming up big.[/quote]

Bobby April was our special teams coach when that onside kick was called in SBXXX.

Does this mean the Danny Smith (ST-Redskins) rumors heat up?

Bobby April came here took a terrible special teams squad and made them into one of if not the best special teams in the NFL. Cowher had a short memory with the way he would scream at him. I think most of the time it was because our punter Miller was causing Cowher the real grief. Bobby caught all the hell. Eventually Cowher cut out the middle man and went straight to Miller at times for one of spit shower rants.


Oh well, why have a good special teams coach when your unit only cost you a few games a season. Besides that, we got to keep Bruce Arians.

[quote]Does this mean the Danny Smith (ST-Redskins) rumors heat up?[/quote]

Jason LaCanfora is reporting that the Redskins aren't allowing the Steelers permission to interview Smith for the ST Coaching position.

what's Steve Tasker doing, he may have been one of the all time best special teams players, maybe he could coach our guys up?

[quote=ramblinjim]what's Steve Tasker doing, he may have been one of the all time best special teams players, maybe he could coach our guys up?[/quote]


I know he's been on CBS as a game announcer for the last couple years...he was great player, not sure if it automatically translates into good coach.

[quote=feltdizz]I liked the onside kick in the 95 SB was the only memory I have of our ST's coming up big.[/quote]

If my memory serves me right, one of the reasons why April left the organization was because big shot Bill Cowher went on live TV after the game and took credit for that onside kick. I think that pretty much pushed him over the edge along with Cowher reaming him out on a number of occasions.

Eitherway, the guy was named ST's coach of the year in 2004 and 2008, so he must have been doing something right in Buffalo. If anything, the ST's in Buffalo have been the only thing going right with that organization over the years. While it'a dead issue now, I would have taken him back.

Hell, it wouldn't have been any worse than what we had to witness this year. :wink: