Tem Lukabu (born August 6, 1981) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player who is the outside linebackers coach for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was previously the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, a position he held from 2020–2022. Lukabu spent the 2019 season as the linebackers coach for

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

of the

(NFL). Lukabu served as a defensive assistant for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

of the NFL from 2012 to 2013 and has coached both linebackers and defensive line at the collegiate level, including stops at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

(FIU), and

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

Early life and playing career

Lukabu was born in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lukabu attended

, where he was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He helped the Raiders to a 31–7 overall record and 18–2

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

mark. Colgate won back-to-back Patriot League championships and Lukabu was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2002 and 2003. He was an All-Patriot League first team selection and All-Atlantic Region first team both seasons, and was named All-ECAC first team in 2003. Lukabu played on Colgate's 2003 team that went 15-1 and advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA national championship game. He served as team captain and was an Associated Press All-America third team performer at linebacker. Lukabu received a bachelor of arts degree in history with a minor in political science from University in 2004.

Coaching career

Prior to Mississippi State, Lukabu spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the defensive quality control coach with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. The 2016 season Lukabu worked closely with the linebackers. In 2017, Lukabu assisted defensive backs coach

Jeff Hafley Jeff Hafley (born April 4, 1979) is an American football coach who is the head coach of Boston College. Raised in Montvale, New Jersey, Hafley played prep football at Pascack Hills High School. Hafley was a four-year letterman (1997–2000) as ...

, who guided a 49ers secondary that included standouts

Eric Reid Eric Todd Reid Jr. (born December 10, 1991) is a former American football safety. He played college football for Louisiana State University (LSU), and received consensus All-American recognition. He was selected in the first round of the 2013 ...

and

Jimmie Ward James "Jimmie" Ward (born July 18, 1991) is an American football cornerback and free safety for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Northern Illinois, and was drafted by the 49ers in ...

. In 2015, Lukabu served as the defensive line coach at Florida International. In 2014, he served as the outside linebackers coach at his alma mater, Colgate. Lukabu spent two seasons (2012–13) as a defensive assistant for the

. In 2012, Lukabu assisted the Buccaneers defense, which ranked first for rushing defense in the NFL, after finishing the 2011 season last in the same category. During his time in Tampa Bay, he worked with defensive tackle

Gerald McCoy Gerald Keith McCoy Jr. (born February 25, 1988) is an American football defensive tackle who is a free agent. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he earned consensus All-American honors, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ...

, who was named to the first two Pro Bowls of his career and first-team All-Pro honors in both 2012 and 2013. Following two seasons at Rutgers (2010–11), Lukabu joined Tampa Bay. At Rutgers, Lukabu coached outside linebackers under Greg Schiano. Lukabu began his coaching career working in player development at Rutgers between (2006-2008). In 2011, Lukabu coached

Khaseem Greene Khaseem Greene (born February 4, 1989) is a former American football linebacker. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Rutgers Scarlet Knights football, Rutgers. Early years ...

, who earned conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Boston College

Lukabu became Boston College's first Black coordinator when he joined new coach Jeff Hafley's staff in 2020.

References

External links

*
Mississippi State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lukabu, Tem 1981 births Living people American football linebackers Boston College Eagles football coaches Cincinnati Bengals coaches Colgate Raiders football coaches Colgate Raiders football players FIU Panthers football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Rhode Island Rams football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Sportspeople from Kinshasa Nigerian players of American football Carolina Panthers coaches