After the Giants fired long-time special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey a month ago, the veteran coach became a hot name around the league for different vacancies. After entertaining interest at a few other spots, McGaughey will reportedly land with the Buccaneers as their new special teams coordinator, per Jordan Raanan of ESPN.
McGaughey is a respected special teams veteran who has spent significant time coaching at the college and professional level. After starting as a graduate assistant at the University of Houston, McGaughey first broke into the NFL as a Bill Walsh Minority Fellow for the Chiefs in 2001. He earned the assistant special teams coordinator job the following year but left in 2003 to become the special teams coordinator back at his alma mater in Houston.
After two years back with the Cougars, McGaughey returned to the NFL for assistant special teams coordinator jobs with the Broncos and Giants. Once again, he would depart for a coordinator gig at the collegiate level, this time heading to LSU. After three years in Baton Rouge, McGaughey finally got his first NFL coordinator position with the Jets in 2014. He followed that up with a one-year stint in the same position for the 49ers and a two-year stint with the Panthers.
In 2018, McGaughey returned for his second job with the Giants, this time as the official special teams coordinator. He held the position for six years despite multiple hurdles along the way. The position group he inherited was a mess, he was diagnosed with periampullary cancer in 2020, and injuries decimated his unit this past season, leading to his eventual dismissal.
Despite the poor results at times in New York, many teams were interested as soon as he became available. McGaughey interviewed for the job in New England and was considered a candidate in Tennessee, as well. In the end, though, he’ll end up replacing Keith Armstrong, who made the move to retire a little over a week ago after five years in Tampa Bay.