Tag: Tem Lukabu

Report: Panthers part ways with big-name assistant coach

The Panthers have now moved on from four defensive coaches this offseason.

The Carolina Panthers are continuing to reshape their defensive coaching staff.

As first reported by Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer on Friday morning, the team has parted ways with assistant defensive backs coach DeAngelo Hall. Hall joined the Panthers at the beginning of last season, under former head coach Frank Reich.

The former eighth overall pick and three-time Pro Bowl cornerback played for 14 years in the NFL. He split his long and successful career between the Atlanta Falcons (2004 to 2007), the Oakland Raiders (2008) and the then-Washington Redskins (2008 to 2017).

His first coaching gig came in 2023, when he was hired by the Panthers to the assistant defensive backs coaching position.

Hall is now the fourth defensive coach, and fifth in total, to be let go from the organization this offseason—joining outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, secondary coach Bert Watts, defensive quality control coach Bobby Maffei and offensive passing game coordinator Nathan Carroll.

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Report: Panthers part ways with another coach

The Panthers are moving forward without passing game coordinator Nate Carroll.

The Carolina Panthers have decided to leave behind another staffer ahead of the 2025 season.

According to Joe Person of The Athletic, the team has decided to part ways with passing game coordinator Nate Carroll. Carroll was hired as part of first-year head coach Dave Canales’ staff for 2024.

Canales and Carroll spent 12 seasons together under Nate’s father, Pete, in Seattle. Carroll served in numerous roles for the Seahawks, including defensive assistant (2011 to 2012), offensive assistant (2013), assistant wide receivers coach (2014 to 2017), wide receivers coach (2018 to 2021) and senior offensive assistant (2022 to 2023).

Carolina has now parted ways with four assistant coaches since the conclusion of the 2024 campaign. Along with Carroll, Carolina is moving on without outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, safeties coach Bert Watts and defensive quality control coach Bobby Maffei.

Person also noted that “rumblings” about Carroll’s future surfaced with his father drawing interest from multiple organizations. Pete has been linked to the head-coaching vacancies for the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders.

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Reports: Panthers make more changes to staff on Monday

The Panthers reportedly made a few firings on Monday.

The Carolina Panthers made a few more adjustments to their staff on Monday.

As first reported by Joe Person of The Athletic, the team has fired head athletic trainer Kevin King and health/performance/nutrition director Andrew Althoff. Team beat writer Sheena Quick and Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer later confirmed the moves.

King started with the organization in 2013, when he was hired as the assistant athletic trainer. He’d be promoted to head athletic trainer in 2020.

That’d be the same year in which Althoff arrived in Carolina, coming over with then-head coach Matt Rhule from Baylor University.

The departures of King and Althoff are just the latest for the Panthers, who also parted ways with three defensive coaches last week. Carolina, this past Wednesday, dismissed outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, secondary coach Bert Watts and defensive quality control coach Bobby Maffei.

2024 saw the Panthers allow 534 points, a new single-season NFL record.

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Report: Panthers make several coaching changes to defensive staff

The Panthers are reportedly parting ways with several defensive coaches.

Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero may be retaining his job heading into the 2025 season, but a handful of his assistants won’t be sticking around with him.

According to ESPN senior NFL report Jeremy Fowler, the team is making several coaching changes to the defensive staff. Fowler posted on Wednesday that the Panthers will be parting ways with outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, secondary coach Bert Watts and defensive quality control coach Bobby Maffei.

Head coach Dave Canales, after affirming Evero’s return on Monday, didn’t rule out changes to the staff.

“We have a lot of things to evaluate, you know, over the next couple of days and into the offseason to reflect on our schemes, to reflect on personnel, to reflect on the guys we have here going forward,” Canales told reporters. “There’s a lot of important conversations to be had on all of those factors and that will be great to have.”

The Panthers set a new NFL record for most points allowed in a season (534) in 2024.

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Panthers retain 13 assistant coaches, including entire defensive staff

Panthers DC Ejiro Evero will have his entire staff back for 2024.

The Carolina Panthers did more than just roll out the hirings of six new faces on Thursday. They also announced the returns of 13 familiar ones.

In addition to their additions, the team is retaining 13 assistant coaches—headlined by defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. Evero will be joined back by his entire defensive staff.

The group is as follows:

  • Dom Capers (defensive assistant)
  • Todd Wash (defensive line coach)
  • Bert Watts (secondary/safeties coach)
  • Jonathan Cooley (secondary/cornerbacks coach)
  • Peter Hansen (inside linebackers coach)
  • Tem Lukabu (outside linebackers coach)
  • DeAngelo Hall (assistant defensive backs coach)
  • Mayur Chaudhari (defensive assistant)
  • Bobby Maffei (defensive quality control coach)

Carolina will also keep a few offensive minds in senior assistant Jim Caldwell and offensive assistant Mike Bercovici. Game management coordinator George Li will be staying on as well.

Along with Evero, the organization previously announced the hirings of their two new coordinators in Brad Idzik and Tracy Smith—who will lead the offense and special teams, respectively.

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Panthers OLB coach Tem Lukabu named DC for East-West Shrine Bowl

Panthers OLB coach Tem Lukabu has been named a DC for this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl.

Carolina Panthers outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu is a busy man nowadays.

As first reported by CBS senior NFL insider Jonathan Jones on Wednesday, Lukabu has been named a defensive coordinator for this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl. The 42-year-old, per Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer, will be heading the West’s defense under New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka—the team’s head coach.

Lukabu was hired by the Panthers last February. Prior to his arrival in Carolina, he had served as a defensive assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2012 to 2013, a defensive quality control coach for the San Francisco 49ers in 2016 and 2017 and the linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019.

On Monday, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported that the New England Patriots and new head coach Jerod Mayo are expected to interview Lukabu for their defensive coordinator role. That would be a familiar post in a familiar place for Lukabu, who was the defensive coordinator at Boston College from 2020 to 2022.

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Former Bengals coach gets interview with Patriots for defensive coordinator

A former Bengals coach gets a chance in New England.

Elsewhere in the AFC, the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick have parted ways after he spent 24 years as the head coach. Jerod Mayo has been hired to fill that position and is beginning to fill out his staff.

Former Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, who spent the 2019 season with the team is one of the candidates.

Since then, he spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator for Boston College and for the past year has been the outside linebackers coach for the Carolina Panthers.

It has also been reported that Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown has been connected to the Patriots for their general manager opening since he spent three years as a scout for New England from 2010-12. He has also had interest elsewhere for GM openings with the Las Vegas Raiders requesting an interview with him recently.

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Rutgers football makes, New England Patriots take: Tem Lukabu will interview for the Pats’ DC job

According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, former Rutgers coach Tem Lukabu is set to interview for New England’s defensive coordinator position.

Tem Lukabu, currently a linebackers coach with the Carolina Panthers, will interview for the defensive coordinator position with the New England Patriots per a report. Lukabu spent time on the Rutgers football staff early in his career.

Freshly announced Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, who replaces the legendary Bill Belichick, is beginning to piece together his first staff as a head coach. According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Mayo is set to interview Lukabu for the Patriots’ open defensive coordinator position. The former Rutgers outside linebackers coach (2010-2011) is a rising star in the coaching industry.

He has strong experience in the college ranks as well as now in the NFL.Lukabu served as Rutgers director of player development from 2006-07, leaving Rutgers football to join the staff at Rhode Island from 2008-09.

 

 

 

After his two seasons in Rhode Island as the outside linebacker coach, Lukabus joined Greg Schiano and the Scarlet Knights for two seasons (2010-11), where he coached linebackers.

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In 2012, Schiano left Rutgers to take the head coaching position for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Lukabu followed Schiano and joined his staff as a defensive assistant for two seasons.

After two seasons with Tampa Bay, Lukabu coached multiple teams between college and the NFL, receiving his first defensive coordinator position at Boston College in 2020. He spent three seasons at Boston College, coaching a defense that jumped from finishing No. 125 in total defense the year before his arrival to No. 73 in 2020.

After Boston College, Lukabu returned to the NFL, joining Carolina’s coaching staff last season.

 

Report: Patriots set to interview first defensive coordinator candidate

The Patriots are set to interview their first defensive coordinator candidate

New England Patriots coach Jerod Mayo has begun building his staff, as he is set to interview Carolina Panthers outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the news on Monday.

Lukabu has experience at both the collegiate and NFL levels. He was the defensive coordinator at Boston College, where the defense only allowed 173.5 passing yards per game in 2021. There was also a notable jump in terms of total defense while with the Eagles. Boston College jumped from 125th to 73rd overall in total defense in 2020.

He served as the defensive quality control coach with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016-17. He also worked with the 49ers’ secondary unit.

Lukabu would bring a well-rounded resume to the Patriots organization. His experience might be needed, as Mayo embarks on his first year as head coach.

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Patriots reportedly interviewing Panthers OLB coach Tem Lukabu for DC job

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Patriots are interviewing Panthers OLB coach Tem Lukabu for their DC opening.

For the first time in 24 years, the New England Patriots are setting sail without six-time Super Bowl-winning head Bill Belichick—and they could be doing so with a current Carolina Panthers staffer.

As reported by NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport on Monday, the Patriots and new head coach Jerod Mayo are planning on interviewing Panthers outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu for their defensive coordinator job.

Lukabu was hired by Carolina last February. His crowning achievement of the 2023 campaign may have been the career season he helped get out of fourth-year backer Yetur Gross-Matos—who notched bests in sacks (4.5), quarterback hits (10) and tackles for a loss (seven).

The 42-year-old already had a handful of NFL stops in his pocket prior to joining the Panthers. Lukabu served as a defensive assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2012 to 2013, a defensive quality control coach for the San Francisco 49ers in 2016 and 2017 and the linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019.

He was also the defensive coordinator at Boston College from 2020 to 2022.

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