Chan Gailey's coaching staff has its share of specialization, and another step was taken in that direction Tuesday as the Bills named Stan Kwan assistant special teams coach.
Kwan will be assisting special teams coordinator Bruce DeHaven, who was very pleased with the hiring decision.
"It is not an exaggeration for me to say that if they allowed me to pick one guy to help me that it would've been Stan Kwan," DeHaven told Buffalobills.com. "It was only about seven or eight weeks ago when I was butting heads with him in Seattle when we played Detroit. He's an excellent football coach and he's been a coordinator for several years. It's just going to be a great benefit to us in the kicking game."
With 19 years of NFL coaching experience, Kwan was most recently the special teams coach of the Detroit Lions from 2007-2009.
Last season Detroit was 11th in average drive start on kickoffs (27) just behind Buffalo (27.5). In 2008 Kwan's special teams coverage units forced a league-high five takeaways as their plus-four turnover margin also led the NFL that season. The Lions' kickoff coverage unit also allowed the fourth lowest average drive start (25.5) in 2008.
"He's knowledgeable," said DeHaven of Kwan. "Even more important is he's coached on the field. When coach Gailey had talked to me about adding somebody I said the thing I'd want the most is someone that can coach out on the field."
DeHaven believes their coaching philosophies will mesh quite well despite having never worked together before.
"He worked for (former NFL special teams coach) Chuck Priefer, who was a really good friend of mine and was in the league a long time and coach Priefer's philosophies and mine are a lot alike," DeHaven said. "And I found after just a day or two of working with Stan that we were on the same page quite a bit."
Kwan has also served as a special teams assistant with the Arizona Cardinals (2001-03) and San Diego Chargers (1993-95).
