The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' coaching staff will have some new faces in 2025, as well as some returning assistants in new roles.
Among the additions to the team's staff is former Buccaneers assistant Mike Caldwell, returning for a second stint in Tampa after two seasons (2022-23) as the Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive coordinator and one as the Las Vegas Raiders' run game coordinator/linebackers coach. Caldwell will serve as Tampa Bay's inside linebackers coach, the same role he held on Bruce Arians' staff from 2019-21.
Also joining the Buccaneers in 2025 are Kefense Hynson as the pass game coordinator and Charlie Strong as the defensive line coach. Hynson takes up the role held last year by Josh Grizzard, who was promoted to offensive coordinator on January 31 after Liam Coen left that post to become the Jaguars' head coach. Strong replaces Kacy Rodgers, who left for a similar position with the Detroit Lions.
Kevin Carberry, who just completed his first season as Tampa Bay's offensive line coach, has been promoted to run game coordinator/offensive line coach. The Buccaneers did not have a designated run game coordinator on their offensive snap in 2024 following the departure of Harold Goodwin. Brian Picucci, who joined Tampa Bay's staff last year as an assistant offensive line coach, has now been elevated to the position of offensive line coach.
With Caldwell returning to tutor the inside linebackers, Larry Foote will transition to run game coordinator/outside linebackers coach. Foote coached that latter position in his first three seasons with the team (2019-21) before moving over to inside linebackers and adding the coordinator title following Caldwell's departure for Jacksonville. George Edwards, who has spent the past two seasons as the Bucs' outside linebackers coach, will now be the pass game coordinator on defense.
In addition, Jordan Somerville adds the role of pass game specialist while continuing to serve as the assistant quarterbacks coach. Jeff Kastl has been promoted to assistant tight ends coach after spending the past three seasons in Tampa as an offensive quality control coach.
During Caldwell's first stint on the Bucs' staff, both Lavonte David and Devin White earned second-team Associated Press All-Pro honors. Tampa Bay's defense during that span allowed an NFL-low 82.5 rushing yards per game and 3.72 yards per carry.
Hynson makes the move to the NFL after more than two decades of coaching at the collegiate level, most recently as the wide receivers coach/pass game coordinator at Oregon State from 2018-24. He was also the interim head coach for the Beavers during the team's bowl game at the end of the 2023 season. Among Hynson's college coaching stops was a three-year stint at Yale (2009-11) while Grizzard was a defensive back on the team. Hynson served as the school's co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach. Also prior to his Oregon State stop, Hyson held roles at Hawaii (2016-17), Norfolk State (2015), Montana (2012-14), Western Washington (2006-08), Minnesota State (2005), Quincy (2004) and Willamette (2003).
Strong returns to the Bay area, where he was the head coach at the University of South Florida from 2017-19. He has also had head coaching stints at Louisville (2010-13) and Texas (2014-16) among his 41 years on the collegiate level. This is his second foray into the NFL, as he was the assistant head coach/inside linebackers coach for the Jaguars in 2021. While with Louisville, Strong was named the Big East Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2012. Most recently, he was a defensive analyst at Alabama in 2023 and a co-defensive coordinator at Miami in 2022.
Carberry and Picucci made a sizeable impact in their first season on the Buccaneers' staff, helping the team's running game make a massive improvement in 2024. After finishing last in the NFL in both rushing yards per game and yards per carry in both 2022 and 2023, the Buccaneers rose all the way to fourth in yards per game (149.2) and third in yards per carry (5.25) in 2024. The Bucs set new franchise single-season records in both yards per carry and total rushing yards (2,536) and rushed for over 100 yards in 14 of their 17 games. They had done so just nine times in 34 games over the previous two seasons.
