TITANS ADD SUPER BOWL-WINNING COACH LORI LOCUST TO DEFENSIVE STAFF
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust is headed to Tennessee and will join the Titans’ defensive staff, as reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
According to reports, Locust impressed both Head Coach Mike Vrabel and new General Manager Ron Carthon in the interview process, thus the quickness to add her to the staff. Locust will now be the Titans’ new defensive quality control coach and is the first full-time female coach in the franchise’s history.
Locust and Buccaneers’ assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar were the first female coaches in league history to win a Super Bowl when they helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the Lombardi in 2021.
The 58-year-old played as a semi-pro defensive lineman for the Central PA Vipers after joining them in 2004 and was named the team’s captain and league MVP in only her fourth season with the team. She then retired after the 2008 season due to a knee injury and went into coaching. Locust would go on to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019, two years before the team’s first Super Bowl triumph since 2002.
Locust’s hire in 2019 under Head Coach Bruce Arians made her the first female position coach in the league. It also made her the third full-time assistant coach in NFL history, after former Buffalo Bills administrative assistant and special teams quality control coach Kathryn Smith, and former Kansas City Chiefs offensive assistant Katie Sowers.
The only female defensive coach in the league during the 2022 season, Locust was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 20 in what was a shakeup of most of the Buccaneers’ coaching staff. The first of the Bucs’ coaching departures to land with another team, Locust will now be back in 2023 after being without a job for just a little over two weeks.
“Sometimes it’s all that needs to be said…” Locust said via a post on Twitter after she was let go a couple of weeks ago. “[I] appreciate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, [defensive line coach] Kacy Rogers, head coach Todd Bowles, the staff, the players, and the Krewe. [It’s] been an amazing start here in Tampa. Looking forward to what’s next.”
The Buccaneers fired five other coaching assistants after the team’s 31-14 Super Wild Card Weekend loss to the Cowboys, including offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. The team also let go of specialist Chris Boniol, wide receivers coach Kevin Garver, offensive quality control coach Jeff Kasti, and running backs coach Todd McNair. Quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen also retired after the conclusion of the season.
Locust also coached with the Baltimore Ravens in training camp in 2018 and was hired as the assistant defensive line coach for the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) in 2019, the same year which the league folded after filing bankruptcy.
Born in Philadelphia, Locust also had coaching experience at high school level with Susquehanna Township, a small school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The Philly native is excited about going to work and commented on her new position with the Titans on Twitter. “Blessed to be joining the Tennessee Titans as part of [Head] Coach Mike Vrabel’s staff,” she said. “Can’t wait to get started on this next phase of my coaching career!”
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Walker Kinsler. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.