Coach Hoffman Bio
Steve Hoffman
Special Teams, Kansas City Chiefs
Since joining the NFL in 1989, Steve Hoffman has been identifying and developing young kickers and punters. His work over the past 20 years has been highly visible, and his impressive results have allowed him to develop an outstanding reputation around the NFL.
Hoffman has successfully trained scores of rookie or first-year free agent kickers. Five – Ken Willis, Lin Elliott, Chris Boniol, Richie Cunningham and Tim Seder – kicked at least 18 field goals in their first NFL season. They connected on 238-of-292 field goal attempts for a success rate of 81.5% – including playoffs and two Super Bowls.
Hoffman’s star pupil from 2008 was Dolphins rookie K Dan Carpenter. Under Hoffman’s guidance, Carpenter connected on 21 of 25 FG tries, including a streak of 14 straight makes, the longest string by a Miami rookie. In fact, eight of those FGs during that streak came from 40 yards or longer.
And once again this season Hoffman is grooming rookie Ryan Succop into one of the most exciting players in the game. Succop is booming kickoffs, has tremendous field goal accuracy and is kicking brilliantly in every imaginable weather condition.
Hoffman has also brought many young punters including Brandon Fiields, John Jett, Toby Gowin and Micah Knorr. Hoffman helped develop Jett into a four-year veteran who performed on two Super Bowl Championship clubs and Gowin into one of the league’s top young punters and kickoff specialists. They have combined to average 42.4 yards-per-punt – including postseason play.
Hoffman’s expertise in developing battle-ready kicking specialists was no more evident than when he introduced Richie Cunningham and Toby Gowin to the pressures of performing in the NFL. Cunningham responded to the challenge by hitting 34 of his first 37 career field goal attempts, including a mid-season streak of 18 straight successful attempts. After finishing the season as the NFL’s second leading scorer with 126 points, Cunningham was named All-Pro by the Associated Press and The Sporting News.
Coach Hoffman started his career at the University of Miami, where one of his charges was Jeff Feagles, still one of the most effective punters in the NFL. Hoffman also was a top instructor for Ray Pelfrey’s kicking camps, where his students included Barry Helton, who booted for the L.A. Rams, and Brian Hansen, the Saints’ all-time leading punter.
Born in Camden, NJ, Hoffman starred in baseball and football at York Suburban High School in York, PA. He earned All-Mid-Atlantic Conference honors at Dickinson College, where he played quarterback, running back and wide receiver while handling the punting duties. Hoffman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Dickinson and a Master of Science in sports administration from St. Thomas (FL).
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Coach Hoffman,
I purchased your video about 7 years ago and it is by far the best punting instructional video I have seen. I have used your techniques to refine my punting. I now hit consistent spirals, but have a lot of trouble with balls that dont turn over during flight(pooch style). I was wondering if you could give me some insights into what could potentially be wrong. I keep the nose down during punting, but I still seem to have this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Tyson
I have been watching sample videos about kicking off and field goals. I am interested in purchasing the DVD, however, can you tell me in the video, do you explain where the ball should ‘strike’ on the foot in ‘detail’? Most kickers can have the whole technique down solid but if they do not know where the ball should strike on the foot then that’s a big problem (my problem).
Thanks Coach
Nice site design , what is the name of tamplate you used in your site
I purchased the DVD last week. I didnt realize I couldnt add it to my iPhone to take with me to practice. Can I get a refund so I can order the digital download version?
PS: The Punting Video is outstanding!!!
I have purchased both Kicking and Punting videos and they have brought me a long way in my kicking game. Hoffman has some simple techniques that can help any kicker fine tune their skills.
Hey Scott. I know, what a drag. It’s a digital rights management system that protects someone from spreading our DVDs to the world for free. But as an experiment, let me try to make an iPhone-friendly version of the lessons and send them to you. You can be our guinea pig (said with all due respect, of course!) That cool?
It’s a WordPress thing called (not surprisingly) GRASS.
Yes, Coach Hoffman spends a LOT of time (a little tedious if you ask me, a non-kicker!) on exactly where on the foot to strike the ball. Good luck!
Come back to Dallas—please!!!
i should get his dvds