The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will hire Mike Smith as their defensive coordinator, Dirk Koetter announced in his inaugural press conference.
Bucs fans will know Smith from his long tenure with the Atlanta Falcons: he was the head coach in Atlanta from 2008 through 2014 before being fired last year. During that time his defenses were very much up-and-down, though he delegated a lot of the defensive coaching responsibilities to Brian Van Gorder and later Mike Nolan, who produced two horrendous defenses in 2013 and 2014.
Smith has a history as a 4-3 coach, though he trends toward bigger personnel and has run some 3-4 looks and influences as well.