Todd McNair begins his third season as running backs coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021.
With McNair's coaching, running back Ronald Jones II put up career highs in 2020 with 978 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns and 5.1 rushing yards per attempts – all of which led Tampa Bay during the regular season. Jones' 5.1 yads per carry set a single-season franchise record and were the eighth-most in the NFL in 2020, while his 584 rushing yards after contact ranked as the sixth-most in the league.
In the postseason, it was Leonard Fournette who excelled in an increased role during the team's four-game playoff run to a Super Bowl LV victory. Fournette reset the franchise's playoff record books, claiming a number of single-postseason records, including scrimmage yards (448), rushing yards (300) and receptions (18). His four touchdowns from scrimmage also tied for the most by a player in a single postseason in team history.
During the Super Bowl LV championship run, Tampa Bay's rushing attack improved its yards per game average from 94.4 rushing yards per game during the regular season to 122.5 yards per contest during the playoffs, while also contributing four rushing touchdowns in the postseason.
In his first season with the Buccaneers, McNair's running back unit rushed for 15 touchdowns, which tied for the sixth-most in a single season in team history. He oversaw the development of second-year rusher Ronald Jones II, who posted his first career 100-yard rushing performance in Week 17 vs. Atlanta and finished the season as the team's leading rusher with 724 yards.
McNair, a former NFL running back and assistant coach, served as running backs coach at the University of Southern California for six seasons (2004-09), while also serving as USC's special teams coordinator for four years (2005-08). Under McNair, Trojans running backs amassed more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage six times and, in 2005, became the first unit in school history to see a pair of runners eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in a season (Reggie Bush and LenDale White). That year, with USC running backs averaging a national-best 6.4 yards per carry, Bush won the Heisman Trophy and Doak Walker Award, was a unanimous All-American, and was voted the Associated Press Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year.
Prior to his time at USC, McNair spent three seasons (2001-03) coaching running backs for the Cleveland Browns. McNair began his coaching career as the offensive coordinator at Camden (N.J.) High School from 1998-99 before handling similar duties at Schalick High School in Pittsgrove, N.J., in 2000.
McNair played eight years in the NFL as a running back and special teams standout, first with the Kansas City Chiefs (1989-93), followed by two seasons with the Houston Oilers (1994-95) before returning to Kansas City in 1996. In his NFL career, McNair rushed for 803 yards with three touchdowns and caught 254 passes for 2,435 yards and seven touchdowns.
McNair lettered four years (1985-88) as a running back at Temple, where he was a 1987 All-American honorable mention selection. He completed his college career third on the school's all-time rushing list with 2,383 yards and 16 TDs.