Joe Baker (left) and Robert Nunn joined the Bucs' coaching staff on Tuesday to work with the defensive backs and defensive line, respectively
Raheem Morris's staff is nearing completion.
Along with new General Manager Mark Dominik, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first-year head coach has spent the last three weeks putting together his staff, with a combination of returning coaches and new hires. On Tuesday, that process continued with the announcement of five more additions/promotions.
The Buccaneers have hired three new coaches: Joe Baker, defensive backs; Robert Nunn, defensive line; and Chris Keenan, assistant strength and conditioning. Nunn joins returning Defensive Line Coach Todd Wash, who will also retain that title.
Two members of the Bucs' 2008 staff received new assignments. Kurt Shultz has been promoted from assistant strength and conditioning coach to the head job, replacing Mike Morris. Dwayne Stukes, who was the Bucs' special teams quality control coach last year, is now the assistant defensive backs coach under Baker.
The Buccaneers also announced on Tuesday that Doug Williams will take on a new role as coordinator of pro scouting. The former head coach at Grambling State (1998-2003), Williams has been a personnel executive for the Buccaneers since 2004. Williams' responsibilities in his new post will include coordinating the scouting and recruiting of all NFL players, monitoring NFL transactions and overseeing player tryouts. In addition, he is in charge of Tampa Bay's evaluating efforts of all other professional football leagues, including the Canadian Football League.
A veteran of 16 combined coaching seasons on the pro and college levels, most recently served as an offensive assistant with the Denver Broncos in 2008. Nunn comes to the Buccaneers from Green Bay, where he was the Packers' defensive tackles coach for the past four seasons. Keenan previously worked as an intern on the Buccaneers' strength and conditioning staff in 2006 and has since held the post of assistant director of strength and conditioning at Tulane.
Baker assumes a position that has become a springboard for future NFL head coaches. Three different men who have served as Tampa Bay's defensive backs coach since 2000 have gone on to head coaching positions, including Morris, of course. Herman Edwards left Tampa after the 2000 season to take over the New York Jets' top job and later moved on to the same role with the Kansas City Chiefs. Mike Tomlin, the Buccaneers' defensive backs coach from 2001-05, spent one year as the Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator before he was hired to coach the recently-crowned Pittsburgh Steelers in 2007.
More importantly, Baker takes over a position that is rich in young talent. Third-year man Tanard Jackson is considered one of the league's rising stars at free safety and second-year cornerback Aqib Talib is coming off a strong rookie season that validated the first-round pick he cost Tampa Bay last April. Tampa Bay's secondary room also houses a four-time Pro Bowler who was voted into the all-star game again in 2008, cornerback Ronde Barber.
Baker has toiled for five different NFL teams and has a varied resume that includes work with defensive backs, linebackers and even special teams. His NFL career began in Jacksonville, where he served as the assistant special teams coach for four years, beginning in 1995, the Jaguars' inaugural season. His next NFL call came from New Orleans, where he helped out with both the defensive backs and special teams from 2000-01. The Saints promoted him to secondary assistant in 2002 and then secondary coach in 2003-04.
Baker's next job united him with Jim Bates, the Buccaneers' new defensive coordinator. Baker took over as the Secondary/Safeties Coach in Green Bay under Bates in 2005, then left after the season when Bates departed. After one season as a Defensive Quality Control/Linebackers Coach with the St. Louis Rams in 2006, Baker again joined Bates, this time in Denver as the Broncos' linebackers coach. Bates left Denver after the 2007 season but Baker stayed on as an offensive assistant last season.
Prior to joining the Saints' staff in 2000, Baker spent one season at the University of Wisconsin, coaching both linebackers and special teams. He had previously gathered two years of college coaching experience, starting at East Stroudsburg University as a graduate assistant/defensive backs in 1991. He later spent the 1993 season as the running backs and wide receivers coach at Samford University.
Nunn has 21 years of coaching experience on the pro and college levels, beginning at Northeastern Oklahoma in 1988, where he coached the defensive line for one year. Nunn them moved on to Tennessee, serving as the Volunteers' defensive ends coach for two seasons. His next stop was Georgia Military College where, after one season as the defensive coordinator, he became head coach in 1992.
Nunn served as both the head coach and athletic director for eight years at GMC, leading the Bulldogs to a 66-19 record during that span, for a winning percentage of .776.
Nunn broke into the NFL with the Dolphins in 2000, brought aboard by Bates, who had just joined the team as defensive coordinator. Nunn started as a defensive assistant but was promoted the next year to assistant defensive line/quality control coach. In 2003, the Redskins hired Nunn away from the Dolphins to coach their defensive line, but he returned to Miami in 2004 as a special assistant. Nunn then followed Bates to Green Bay in 2005 and remained on with the Packers for three more seasons after Bates departed.
Stukes has been on the Bucs' staff for three seasons. He spent two seasons as a coaches assistant before working closely with Special Teams Coordinator/Running Backs Coach Rich Bisaccia in 2008. Stukes first joined the Buccaneers as a defensive back in 2002, spending time on the team's practice squad that season and attending Tampa Bay's training camp the following summer. He spent parts of four NFL seasons with the Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers and also played two seasons in NFL Europe and one in the Arena League.
Shultz has also been with the Buccaneers since 2006 and he has spent the last three years as the assistant strength and conditioning coach under Morris. His promotion puts him back in the same post he held with the Minnesota Vikings in 2005 and 2005. Shultz also served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003, marking his entry into the NFL.
Prior to '03, Shultz spent eight years as the strength and conditioning coach at Loyola College (1995-98) and Johns Hopkins (1999-2003). He was also the strength coach for the men's basketball team at Maryland from 2000-03, where he gained the bulk of his professional experience. Shultz helped the Terrapins win the NCAA title during the 2002-03 season. While also working as a personal trainer, he served as a consultant and kick-boxing instructor for the Baltimore Ravens. Among the Baltimore-area athletes he trained were Ravens' linebacker Ray Lewis and several Baltimore Orioles players, including Gary Matthews, Jr. and Jerry Hairston.
Williams is obviously well-known to Buccaneer fans as the team's first star quarterback. A first-round draft pick by Tampa Bay in 1978, Williams helped the fledgling franchise reach the playoffs for the first time in 1979, and then again in 1981 and 1982. He guided the Buccaneers to the NFC Championship Game in '79, just the fourth year of the team's existence. Williams later played for the USFL's Oklahoma Outlaws for two years before returning to the NFL with the Washington Redskins in 1986. It was in Washington that he reached the peak of his playing career, helping the Redskins win Super Bowl XXII at the end of the 1987 season and taking Super Bowl MVP honors with one of the greatest title-game performances in league history.
