The Wisdom Of Danny Smith
May 21st, 2026
Bucs special teams coach Danny Smith.
As Joe has typed already, this new Bucs special teams coach Danny Smith is a character.
Smith, 72, comes from the Steelers where he had pretty good success. He’s a football lifer. He coached Dan Marino in high school! Smith was also on the same coaching staff as Chucky in Philadelphia when Chucky was the Eagles offensive coordinator.
Smith has been bouncing around college and NFL football for decades.
Guys who are 72, most move to Florida to golf year-round and loaf before they move to God’s waiting room, not to work. So Smith was asked why he’s still at it in football.
“I don’t know anything, but I need competition and preparation,” Smith said. “I need it. I need it in my life.
“I need competition and preparation, and that’s why I do it. And I love it. And I love this gig.”
While Bucs fans grumble about the apparent direction of the team, Smith made it clear to the local pen and mic club this week that around the league, the Bucs are looked upon as a class organization.
Smith said he feels the winning attitude at One Buc Palace.
“I’m gonna tell you, this organization has done a great job with the culture,” Smith said. “I’m just telling you, I’ve been on a few of these teams.
“I’ve been in several organizations and none of them [have] been bad. But what has been very impressive to me here is from the top down, really from ownership to administration to coaches, the culture that is here is special. And I feel it. And I’m proud to be a part of it.
“The attendance in [OTA] sessions like this with all the things that these young men have in their lives today, as you well know, as long as some of you have been covering this stuff, to have everybody in attendance like that here is not natural.
“It’s a culture that’s been developed again through ownership, through administration, through coaching staff. I’m excited to be a part of it. I really am. And I respect the hell out of it.”
And lastly, Smith touched upon leaders. He said losing Mike Evans and Lavonte David will be a big hit to the team. Asked who will replace them, Smith said the players will tell coaches.
Smith made it clear that anyone declaring a player a leader or a player bragging he’s a leader is a crock.
“Anytime you come to an organization and you drive by the stadium and the two murals on the stadium are the two guys that left, tells you a lot,” Smith said. “OK, you don’t need to be no rocket scientist to figure that out. So that’s a big loss. …
“Leadership is not appointed. Leadership is anointed by their teammates. OK, you can’t just appoint a leader and think it’s going to work. It just don’t work like that.
“Leadership is anointed by the teammates. So we’ll see who those leaders become, who our teammates will follow. And I think that’s in a development process when you lose two guys like [David and Evans]. But I think we’ll be fine.”
Joe could listen to Smith talk all day.
When Smith entered what the Bucs call “the studio,” where most of the coaches and players take the podium, Smith didn’t want to do it. He just wanted to sit with the reporters and talk like people hanging out at Dunkin Donuts.
But Smith had to take the podium for video purposes and he didn’t like it. “Too formal for me,” he said, and the first thing he did was push aside the microphone, which Joe knows infuriated the Bucs’ video production people. Smith then leaned over the podium so that he’d get out of the glare of the TV klieglights.
As he finished, he remarked that he recently had a dental appointment and standing up at the podium under the klieglights gave him flashbacks to being in the dentist chair.
May 21st, 2026 at 9:07 am
“the culture that is here is special.” Coming from Danny Smith that actually makes me feel better about our beloved Bucs. No sarcasm.
May 21st, 2026 at 9:08 am
Sure hope he’s right.
May 21st, 2026 at 9:10 am
Teams cost us at least one game last year. One game was the difference between making the playoffs and staying home. Danny will win us a game this year.
May 21st, 2026 at 9:57 am
A breath of fresh air compared to last year’s fool. Just cowardly Bowles kept him all year.
May 21st, 2026 at 10:26 am
Like you, Joe, I really enjoyed listening to his presser. Now THAT is a coach who I’d want to run through a brick wall for.
Super glad the Bucs lured him here. I’m almost certain that our ST’s will be much improved this year! Thankfully!! 😉
May 21st, 2026 at 11:19 am
Rooting for him but let’s be honest….. he can’t do any worse than the last guy who should have been fired after the NYJ game in week 3
May 21st, 2026 at 11:33 am
This was a terrific hire! He will fix our Special Teams.
May 21st, 2026 at 1:18 pm
We should be glad we missed playoffs. That domino brought us Bain, new coaches, new acquisitions.
May 21st, 2026 at 1:47 pm
I like the cut of this guys jib.
I will kowtow to the Baker bashers now and say the Bucs seem to have made 2 great hires.
Chandler Whitmer at QB coach, hopefully he can improve Baker (see I don’t just think he’s flawless and he certainly needs to be better).
And this Danny Smith, who will almost assuredly improve the ST unit.
I don’t have any hope for Zac until I see the offense in action.
Pretty sure we needed a HC or DC upgrade but I will take what I can get for now.
May 21st, 2026 at 1:59 pm
This got me to thinking about the new kickoff rules and how hang time doesn’t matter anymore. Why not kick hard line drives right at people’s feet to maybe cause more muffs?
May 21st, 2026 at 2:08 pm
I have a feeling that if the team flames out this year, Coach Smith will be one of the holdovers for the next Coach.
And if this guy wants his shot at the top job, let’s hear his plan.
Bowles, you are on notice that you better bring every bit of what you’ve got to the table this year. You can’t be mopey and uninspired. You need to be riding asses and telling marginal players that you ain’t going down and letting them loaf you into getting fired.
Be a crazed dog. Make the players afraid of you.
May 21st, 2026 at 3:41 pm
Mod Hair..
Mike T told Bud Licht to have Smith here and ready for next year
May 21st, 2026 at 4:07 pm
Here we go again with the “culture” nonsense.
What did culture do for us in 2025????
8-9 and no players.
Superb!!!!
May 21st, 2026 at 4:32 pm
After watching this dude on the sidelines here in Pitt I can assure you he is a sparkplug. Special teams will be so much better. And he’ll be a voice for getting Mike T here next year when (if) the Bucs collapse again this year. Sorry, I have zero expectations under bowels. I hope wrong tho.
May 21st, 2026 at 4:43 pm
Lt. Dan, exactly right, it definitely calmed something inside ?
May 21st, 2026 at 5:03 pm
Lynchmob, you are a turd in the punch bowl!
May 21st, 2026 at 5:41 pm
Coming from him means everything.
He’s clearly an Irish American by his demeanor and work ethic.
Go Bucs!
May 21st, 2026 at 6:44 pm
I really enjoyed his answers regarding kickoffs — how “few and far-in-between” that kicking into the end zone is justified, “sure, if we’re up two touchdowns with a minute left”. And — “I like kicking and I like covering”.
Old school, smash-mouth style. You just know that he’s going to be sending his guys out with an edge.
Watch the improvement in tackling this season. Danny’s in the house!!
May 21st, 2026 at 9:01 pm
Not accustomed to hearing coaches with a coherent thought rather than a word salad stream of consciousness that goes nowhere. Refreshing.