On Wednesday morning, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers conducted a virtual interview with Craig Aukerman in regards to their open special teams coordinator position. Aukerman spent the 2025 season in that same role with the Miami Dolphins on Mike McDaniel's staff, but McDaniel was relieved of his duties last Thursday.
The Buccaneers are seeking to replace Thomas McGaughey, with whom the team also parted ways last Thursday after two seasons on Todd Bowles' staff. Aukerman is the second candidate to interview for the position after the team also spoke with Detroit Lions Assistant Special Teams Coach Jett Modkins last Saturday.
Aukerman has 26 years of coaching experience, including the last 16 in the NFL. In addition to his time with the Dolphins he has previously held the special teams coordinator title for the Chargers (2016) and Titans (2018-23). While with the Titans, Aukerman helped Punter Brett Kern make three Pro Bowl rosters and long-snapper Morgan Cox make one. Also during that Titans tenure, punter Ryan Stonehouse led the NFL in gross punting average in both 2022 and 2023 and kicker Nick Folk made a league-leading 96.7% of his field goal attempts in 2023.
In a three-point win by the Dolphins over the Buccaneers' in Week 17 of this past season, Aukerman's units blocked a field goal and returned a kickoff into Tampa Bay territory to set up a second-half field goal drive.
Aukerman first broke into the NFL coaching ranks as a defensive assistant with the Dolphins in 2010. He took the same job with the Jaguars in 2011 but then made the move over to special teams in 2012 as the assistant to coordinator John Bonamego. Aukerman moved on next to the Titans in 2013, spending three seasons as the assistant special teams coordinator before landing the top job in San Diego in 2016. He returned to the Titans in 2017, once again as the assistant coordinator, before Mike Vrabel promoted him to the coordinator spot a year later.
