Bruce DeHaven

Who is Bruce DeHaven?

Bruce DeHaven is an American football coach. DeHaven is well known for being the special teams coach of the Bills from 1986 to 1999, but he also made the playoffs in the same role for three other franchises and saw 15 different teams he was part of reach the playoffs during his career. He was their special teams coach when, most notably, Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal in Super Bowl XXV, dubbed Wide Right. The Bills lost to the Tennessee Titans in a game called the Music City Miracle, where Tennessee executed one of the most famous plays in NFL history on a kickoff return/cross-field lateral called "Home Run Throwback" to score a game-winning touchdown with seconds left in the 4th quarter. DeHaven was made the scapegoat and fired by the organization, but his reputation remained strong because A) the Bills were perceived to have over-reacted in relation to his 13 years of superb coaching and B) it was discovered that DeHaven had specifically had his coverage unit prepare for exactly the play that Tennessee ran, and also for the threat that Kevin Dyson presented, only to watch the players blow their assignments as Dyson scored a historic season-killing TD. DeHaven was best known before that for having helped develop two of the most dominant special teams stars of all-time in Mark Pike and Steve Tasker. In an interview published on January 30, 2011 in The Buffalo News, DeHaven stated that not seeing the referees' arms go up after Norwood missed the near-title winning kick was like being shot in the gut. After coaching the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and Seattle Seahawks special teams units, DeHaven came back to Buffalo to take over the job he'd been fired from years earlier. Chan Gailey announced DeHaven's hiring on February 1, 2010. He, along with the entire Bills coaching staff, was dismissed on December 31, 2012.