| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
|---|---|
| Title | Safeties coach |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1956-04-25)April 25, 1956 (age 69) New Castle, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| College | Virginia Tech |
| Career history | |
| |
| Awards and highlights | |
Nick Rapone (born April 25, 1956) is an Americanfootball coach for theTampa Bay Buccaneers.[1] He previously coached at the collegiate level atTemple,Pitt andDelaware.
Rapone began his career in coaching in1979 as agraduate assistant at theUniversity of Pittsburgh where he stayed for two years , before going on to East Tennessee State. Rapone began coaching underBruce Arians atTemple University who he had previously played with and for atVirginia Tech.[2] Originally hired as a secondary coach, Rapone took on the additional responsibility of defensive coordinator for his final four years with theOwls.[3] Following his time at Temple, Rapone returned to Pitt, coaching there for four years. He then spent two seasons at New Castle (Pa.) High School serving as the head coach.[4] This led to his four year tenure at theUniversity of Connecticut. Rapone returned to Temple for a second stint in1999, working as the school's secondary coach until the 2006 season.[5] Rapone was at Delaware from2006 until2012 as the team’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. In2013 Rapone made the jump to the NFL and was named defensive backs coach for theArizona Cardinals[6] also under Bruce Arians.[7] He stayed with Arizona until Arians retirement following the2017 season. Rapone returned to a familiar place in Delaware in2018 as he was named the team’s cornerbacks coach.[8] In2019 when Arians came out of retirement to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Rapone went with him and was named the team’s safeties coach.[9] He was part of the coaching staff when the Buccaneers wonSuper Bowl LV.[10] He remained with the team in 2022 whenTodd Bowles who he coached at Temple took over as the team’s head coach.