Chris Boniol enters his second season as specialists coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.
Boniol oversaw a specialists unit that included three new arrivals in 2019, including free agents Bradley Pinion, long snapper Zach Triner and 2019 fifth-round kicker, Matt Gay. With Boniol in charge of guiding the rookie through his development, Gay finished fifth among all kickers in total points with 124. Those 124 points tied for the fourth-most in a single season in team history and the most ever by a Buccaneers rookie. Gay also held a share of the league lead by converting on 16 field goals of 40-or-more yards, including tying for the third-longest field goal made in Buccaneers history when he connected on a 58-yarder at Los Angeles on 9/29/19.
Prior to arriving in Tampa Bay in 2019, Boniol had most recently served as a senior special teams advisor at Mississippi State, where he had worked since 2016. In 2017, Bulldogs kicker Jace Christmann was named Freshman All-American by the FWAA and to the SEC All-Freshman Team by the league's coaches. Prior to his time in Starkville, Boniol spent one season as Louisiana College's special teams coordinator and running backs coach.
A former Dallas Cowboys kicker, Boniol began his NFL coaching career with the club in 2010 as the assistant special teams/kickers coach. That season, punter Mat McBriar led the NFL in gross (47.9) and net (41.7) punting average. In 2011, Boniol tutored rookie kicker Dan Bailey, who established an NFL-rookie record by connecting on 26 consecutive field goal attempts. For the season, Bailey converted 32-of-37 (86.5%) of his tries. Bailey continued to flourish under Boniol's guidance, hitting on 29-of-31 (93.5%) attempts in 2012, and 28-of-30 (93.3%) in 2013. During their three seasons together, Bailey's 90.8 success rate and 89 field goals made both ranked third in the NFL.
In 2014, Boniol moved to Oakland where he was the assistant special teams coach. That season, punter Marquette King tied for fourth in the NFL with 31 punts inside the 20, while kicker Sebastian Janikowski connected on 86.4 percent of his field goal attempts.
A native of Alexandria, La., Boniol attended Louisiana Tech before embarking on a six-year NFL playing career. In 1995, he made 27-of-28 field goal attempts, leading the league in field goal accuracy for the Super Bowl Champion Cowboys.
