I know you want to boor or point a finger at someone when it comes to special teams, but sometimes it’s hard to be so specific with assigning blame.

Punt returners might stink, but there are teammates who have to hold up defender to create time for a catch and there are teammates who have to set blocks to spring returns. The same holds true on kickoff returns. A guy may miss a tackle late on a kickoff return, but maybe he was forced to cover for someone who ran out of his lane earlier and created the alley the returner exploited. The shield on punts can sometimes allow too much pressure on a punter who mishits under duress. The hold and snap might be wonky on a missed field goal.

And when something goes wrong with special teams, you know who the target for scorn typically is. Or do you? Turns out WVU has a specialized structure for coaching the third side of the three-sided ball.

Dana Holgorsen is West Virginia’s football coach and he has nine assistant coaches on his staff. One of them is Mark Scott, a former graduate assistant promoted to a full-time position in the spring.

He’ll help with the secondary during the season and from the coaches’ box during games, but his primary role is as the team’s special teams coach. Scott also has nine assistant coaches on his staff, including Holgorsen.

The fact the special teams coach isn’t the only special teams coach, and that he divvies up duties among the assistants is lost on many who seek to blame the name at the top of the flow chart, but it also helps the Mountaineers provide better coaching.

“What it allows us to do is bring up every individual and break down the specific parts that we teach to each position and bring the whole thing together,” Scott said.