By: D. Scott Fritchen
Nate Kaczor grew up in Scott City, Kansas. Richard, his father, was his little league baseball coach. Nate admired how his father studied the game. And he was innovative. Richard instructed older players to pitch to his team, and through reading, Richard uncovered an array of baseball drills. He coached the kids to succeed.
"He would really prepare himself," Nate says. "Probably, subconsciously, that led me to believe that you could become an expert at something or good enough to teach somebody material if you worked at it yourself."
Today, Nate Kaczor is Kansas State's special teams quality control coach. He has worked as a college or NFL coach each of the last 33 seasons, including the last five as special teams coordinator for the Washington Commanders. Kaczor arrived in Manhattan in March, assuming his duties during the second week of spring practice, and setting up shop to assist with what could be a special season for the Wildcats.
"Obviously, the makeup of the culture here is blue-collared and Coach Klieman's mantra of 'Discipline,' 'Commitment,' 'Toughness' and 'Be Selfless,' that can be on any special teams units," Kaczor says. "Being selfless is a part that I really like because it just teaches people that somebody needs to do this job, and it's not offense or defense, but man, it's important to all of us."
Back in his Scott City days, Kaczor played as long-snapper in middle school, and he continued to stay involved with the position through high school, and on through Dodge City Community College, and Utah State (1987-89), where he was a team captain who earned all-conference honors during his final season. After serving as an offensive assistant at Utah State (1991-99), he served as offensive coordinator at Nebraska-Kearney (2000-03), co-offensive coordinator at Idaho (2004-05) and tight ends/co-offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Monroe (2006-07).
What did every football program have in common? Special teams.
"You were involved with teaching the special teams and coaching the special teams by committee on all the coaching staffs that I was on, even when I was offensive coordinator," Kaczor says. "Special teams have always been a part of what I've done."
Kaczor got his start in the NFL as an assistant special teams coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2008-11), then he served as assistant offensive line coach for the Tennessee Titans (2012), and he served as the special teams coordinator for the Titans (2013-15) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2016-18) before joining the Commanders.
He still remembers stepping into the room for the first time as assistant special teams coach with the Jaguars.
"There was excitement, but there was probably some stress involved in wanting to do a really good job," he says. "I distinctly remember the audience and these guys were all really good players and they've been doing this a long time, and I hoped I could get in front of them and show them that I could help them out. What you realize is that if you work your butt off and the players at that level know you can help them, even in the smallest way, they'll listen. It's just like any level of football, but the audience is just a little older and more experienced.
"I remember my first time running a meeting by myself, I just wanted to do such a good job because my audience was the best of the best."
And at each stop, Kaczor has helped special teams to achieve success.
During his time in Washington, Kaczor tutored punter Tress Way to a pair of Pro Bowl selections in 2019 and 2022, while special teamer Jeremy Reaves also earned a Pro Bowl in 2022. In 2021, Kaczor directed return units that finished sixth in the NFL in total return yards, while Washington was No. 4 in the league in kick-off return average (25.2) and No. 5 in kickoff-return yards (833) in 2019. During his final season in Washington, Kaczor guided the Commanders to a No. 7 ranking in kickoff-return average (25.0).
During Kaczor's three seasons with Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers were one of the top punt-coverage units in the NFL, allowing only 6.6 yards per return, the lowest mark in the league during that span. He also helped Bryan Anger set franchise records for both punts inside the 20-yard line (37) and net punting average (42.7) during the 2016 season.
In his final season in Tennessee, Kaczor's units led the NFL in special teams takeaways, while the 2013 Titans ranked third in the league in opponent punt-return average and eighth in kickoff-return average.
"The main thing is to have as much talent as you can have and to get them playing together and get them on the same page in teaching them the technical aspect of how they do their job. That's the most important thing," he says. "Really talented guys help you, and then coaching them and having their back is the secret sauce."
Which is what he hopes to help provide from a behind-the-scenes standpoint at K-State as special teams quality control coach.
"The position coaches are involved with special teams and it's my job to do the quality control work to help save them steps for their phases of special teams," he says. "There's a coach who's in charge of punt return, and so on, so I try to do the legwork to get them up to speed and get them a head start. Sometimes I'll offer them opinions at that point.
"There's a lot more involved than people might realize. From a scheme standpoint, there aren't as many schemes are on offense or defense, but studying the players, and their strengths and weaknesses, and how to attack, the effort piece of it — 'Can you outwork the individual across from you?' — is important. So, studying individuals and personnel, there's at least as much studying with that as with any other phase."
Interestingly, Kaczor already knew some of Klieman's coaching staff when he arrived in the Little Apple.
"I was the graduate assistant at Utah State and picked Matt Wells up at the airport for his recruiting visit," Kaczor says. "I'd just finished playing and was the GA. I was one year removed from being a senior when Matt Wells was a freshman. Mike Tuiasosopo, I worked with him on another staff when I was a full-time coach at Utah State. Then Steve Stanard, I knew from working camps in Kansas City back when we were first starting out with coaching. Steve is someone that, we just happened to hit it off, and we've stayed in touch over the years. But there's those three guys.
"Then Brian Anderson, when I was with the Bucs, Brian Anderson did a Bill Walsh internship with us. So, I worked with BA for a mini-camp."
Relationships helped Kaczor as he went through the decision-making process for the next stop in his career.
"Who wouldn't be impressed with Chris Klieman's track record?" Kaczor says. "Usually, guys who are like him and who have really dominated at every level, there's something there, obviously, so when they talked about their feelings toward him, and just connecting the dots with his longstanding success, that was enough for me."
Kaczor's third month on the job figures to be his busiest yet.
"In June, you basically have a lot of things going," he says. "There's official visits, camp season, getting people to come to camp, you're evaluating a lot of recruits whether it's for 2026, 2027 or 2028, or someone that's decided to come to camp, so there's lots of recruiting camps. And our players are going to be back working in the summer program.
"In the next 30 days, there's something going each day. It's very, very busy but it's all football related, and if you're a football coach, it's what you should love to do. There are always tasks, a labor of love for the game of football. It's really busy but a lot of fun, too."
Kaczor enjoys being back at the college level.
"I like being a part of a group of people that are on a mission together," he says. "It's a challenge and maybe not everyone understands it. Being able to withstand criticism and deal with people heaping praise on you but keeping each other level-headed and moving forward in the sense of accomplishment of being a part of a team, and what you accomplish together, is what I really, really like. Coming back to college football has just totally cemented that with me that the age of the audience or the location of the audience, that doesn't matter as much as being a part of a group of people with a common goal."
As for the expectations for K-State in the fall?
"I'm really excited," Kaczor says. "When you meet new people and you're in a new spot, and that spot is kind of close to where you grew up, and you get to reconnect with a lot of personal relationships from when I was growing up, that's been a lot of fun," he says. "Anytime that you are with a group of people and you're on a team and you're getting ready to go compete, that's a lot of fun.
"I know that when you're dealing with a culture that Coach Klieman has built here, our expectations of our program and what we expect from ourselves is high, so it's always fun to be a part of a place that has a good standard and works to help hold each other accountable to that."
He'll help in any way to help the team succeed.
Just like dad used to do.
