Carolina Panthers special teams coach Bruce DeHaven taking medical leave

Carolina Panthers special teams coordinator Bruce DeHaven is taking a medical leave of absence to deal with a “serious health situation,” he said Tuesday.

DeHaven, 66, is leaving Charlotte on Wednesday to join his family at their home in Buffalo, N.Y. He will be gone indefinitely.

Russ Purnell, a veteran coach who last worked in the NFL with Jacksonville in 2011, will take over the Panthers’ special teams in DeHaven’s absence, the team announced.

DeHaven said he hopes to stay in consultation with Panthers coach Ron Rivera and his staff while he’s away.

DeHaven declined to talk about his specific ailment but thanked Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and the rest of the organization for its support.

“Mr. Richardson has done everything possible to help me get through this, and (general manager) Dave Gettleman and Ron Rivera have been exactly the same, and for that there’s no way of being able to thank them enough,” DeHaven said in a brief phone interview.

DeHaven was hired by the Panthers as the special teams assistant in 2013 and was promoted to the coordinator’s role this offseason after Richard Rodgers was reassigned.

“Our thoughts are with Bruce and his family, and we wish him a quick recovery,” Rivera said in a release. “Out of respect for Bruce and his family’s privacy, no additional information will be disclosed.”

Purnell becomes the team’s third special teams coordinator since February, when Rodgers was moved to assistant secondary coach.

Like DeHaven, Purnell has more than a quarter-century of coaching experience in the NFL. He won Super Bowl rings with Baltimore in 2000 and Indianapolis in 2006, and seven of his players have made the Pro Bowl.

Purnell was the Jaguars’ special teams coordinator from 2009 until 2011, when Jack Del Rio and his staff were fired. Purnell most recently was with the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL in 2012.

Carolina’s special teams were among the league’s worst in most major categories last season, prompting Rivera’s shakeup of the coaching duties this past winter.

The Panthers signed several special teams veterans in free agency, including return specialist Ted Ginn Jr., who was with the team in 2013 before spending last season with Arizona.

This story was originally published May 5, 2015 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers special teams coach Bruce DeHaven taking medical leave."