CLICK HERE FOR THE COACH ZAUNER HOME PAGE

From Coach To Consultant

Article from: Viking Update

Article date: February 5, 2008

Article by: Tim Yotter

Former Vikings special teams coach Gary Zauner is back to his business of consulting after spending a year out of the NFL.

Zauner coached the Vikings special teams from 1994-2001 under Dennis Green, then went to Baltimore under Brian Billick for the same duties. After four seasons with the Ravens, Zauner rejoined Green for his final season with the Arizona Cardinals.

Throughout his time in the NFL, he coached Fuad Reveiz when he had 31 consecutive field goals in 1995, Gary Anderson when he had a perfect regular season in 1998, Mitch Berger when he had a record 40 touchbacks in 1998 and Matt Stover when he connected on 87.4 percent of his field goals over four years with the Ravens.

“Gary has developed and coached some of the top kickers in the history of the NFL, yet some of his best work is when he is teaching young kickers who are eager to learn,” Green said in a testimonial on Zauner’s new web site, www.coachzauner.com.

Zauner plans to consult punters on an individual basis or in small groups this year.

“I’m going to work with whoever wants me to work with their son, but most of the stuff I do is on an individual basis, but some families might not be able to afford a private lesson so I’ll do smaller groups,” he said.

He will be back in Minnesota this summer (he now lives in Arizona) and will put together private or small-group lessons for those interested.

The site is also a way for young kickers to watch some of the best in the league over the last 15 years work on their technique and is also a conduit for aspiring or current professional kickers to get in contact with Zauner for some tutoring. He said he will be working with Mike Vanderjagt in the coming months as he attempts to get back into the NFL. It worked for Mitch Berger, who worked with Zauner for about three months last year and caught on with the Arizona Cardinals for the final five games of 2007, averaging 40.6 yards per punt.

On the site, Zauner currently has 12 kicking videos and eight punting videos and was working on adding some long snapping segments this week.

“If a kid wants to go in, it’s their way of getting to look at 12 different kickers,” said Zauner, who has worked with more three dozen NFL kickers and punters, including John Carney, Brad Daluiso, John Kasay, Nick Lowery, Adam Vinatieri, Chris Gardocki, Lee Johnson, Scott Player and Dave Zastudil in addition to his Vikings players, such is Anderson, Berger and Reveiz.

“Fuad had a time when he missed a few over 50 yards and we worked on some things and the next year he went to the Pro Bowl,” Zauner said.

On the site, Zauner also has tips that he has used for various punters and kickers in five-part-lesson style.

“I’ve looked at a lot of different web sites and there is nothing like this offered for free for kids and moms and dads to go in and see some of the greatest punters and kickers and snappers around,” he said. “If you’re going to be the best punting and kicking instructor, I think you should have the best web site. I don’t think anybody can compare with who I’ve worked with and the results I’ve had. I wanted the web site to be the same way.”