On Friday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers conducted an interview with Danny Smith, one of the most experienced special teams coaches in the NFL, for the open coordinator position on Todd Bowles' staff. Smith has spent the past 13 seasons as the special teams coordinator under Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomlin stepped down as the Steelers' head coach on Tuesday.
Smith is the fifth candidate the Buccaneers have interviewed for their special teams coordinator position, after the team parted ways with Thomas McGaughey on January 8.
Smith has been a special teams coordinator in the NFL for each of the past 25 seasons, beginning with the Buffalo Bills from 2001-03. He then handled the same job for the Washington Redskins from 2004-12 before joining Tomlin's staff in 2013. Overall, Smith has 50 years of coaching experience, beginning with a year as a graduate assistant in 1976 at Edinboro State, where he had played quarterback and defensive back.
The Steelers' were strong in several areas of special teams in 2025, and particularly in coverage of kicks and punts. Pittsburgh ranked sixth in punt return average yards allowed (7.0) and eighth on kickoffs (25.2). The average drive start for Steelers opponents following a kickoff was the 29.0-yard line, the fifth-best mark in the NFL. On all drives, Pittsburgh allowed a start of the 28.4-yard line, which was second best in the NFL, and the punt coverage unit only surrendered one return longer than 20 yards.
Kicker Chris Boswell also had another strong year, as he has throughout his 11 seasons under Smith's tutelage. Boswell made 27 of 32 field goal attempts, including nine of 11 from 50 yards out or farther. Boswell made the Pro Bowl following the 2017 and 2024 seasons and was also a first-team Associated Press All-Pro selection last season. The year before, Miles Killebrew was also a first-team AP All-Pro as a special teamer after he blocked two punts among his other exploits in the kick-and-coverage game.
After stops at Clemson, William & Mary and the Citadel early in his coaching career, Smith began a long stint at Georgia Tech from 1987-94, variously coaching running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs. His first job in the NFL followed, as he landed on the Philadelphia Eagles staff as the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach from 1995-98. After two seasons as the Detroit Lions' tight ends coach, Smith began his unbroken quarter-century as an NFL special teams coordinator.
