In his first year in the league, Fipp played a large role in taking the 49ers special teams unit to new heights in 2008 as three players were named Pro Bowl alternates in P Andy Lee, KR/PR Allen Rossum and RB Michael Robinson. Lee also broke the team record for punting average in a single-season (47.8), while Rossum set career-highs in both kick return average (26.8) and punt return average (14.9).
According to Lee, even though it was his first time back on the special teams side, Fipp hasn’t missed a beat.
“He really knows what he’s talking about. He’s a very player-friendly coach,” said Lee. “He’s not just going to jump on you for no reason or just yell and scream. But he knows how to coach a kid. He knows how to get through to each individual guy. From what I see of him, I think he knows how to relate to each individual player and to help them get better in whatever way they need to.”
No matter what unit he’s coaching, improving a player’s performance is just what he strives to do.
“I think the thing that I look forward to the most is the challenge seeing how much better you can make a player,” said Fipp. “If you walk out there, and here’s where they are on Day 1 - what I enjoy is seeing when you finish, have they gotten better? And that’s how I think you measure yourself as a coach. Are your players playing better? Have they gotten better? Have you given them something that they can look back at you and say, ‘Hey, thanks. You helped me out, you made me a better player.’”
