Just as we did with new Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio, we’re looking into new special teams coordinator Danny Crossman’s background. A longtime special teams coach most recently with the Miami Dolphins, though he was out of the league in 2025.
What is Pittsburgh getting in Danny Smith’s replacement? Let’s find out about the person and the coach.
Danny Crossman’s Background
On the surface, Danny Crossman’s home region might seem like Texas, born in El Paso, or Western Pennsylvania, considering he went to Pitt. Squint a little more and you might believe it’s the Midwest given he began his college career at Kansas.
But he was raised in the Philadelphia area and considers it home. Growing up in Pottstown 40 miles northwest of downtown Philly. He played for legendary head coach Hank Bernat at Owen J. Roberts High School, a team captain who did it all as a running back, defensive back, kicker, and punter, the latter two foreshadowing a long special teams career to come. Growing up playing baseball, basketball, and track, football was his college ticket.
That began at Kansas. He spent the 1985 season there as a promising cornerback. When head coach Mike Gottfried was hired by the Pitt Panthers for the 1986 season, Crossman followed. Returning closer to home also helped as did the connection to DC Bob Valesente, brought by Gottfried to Pitt.
Crossman became teammates with the late Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, Cam Heyward’s father, and current ESPN analyst Louis Riddick. In fact, Riddick and Crossman started alongside each other on the back end of Pitt’s defense late in their careers. Here’s proof from one broadcast.
NCAA rules forced Crossman to sit out the ’86 season. Once eligible to suit up, Crossman spent a year as a backup defensive back before becoming the Panthers’ starting fullback in 1988. He finished the year with 273 rushing yards and two scores, including a nifty 40-yard touchdown in a 52-6 win over Navy.
Here’s a clip of No. 31 Crossman, undersized as he was, throwing a downfield block on this designed run by QB Darnell Dickerson.
For his senior season in 1989, Crossman again flipped sides to become the Panthers’ starting strong safety. Also a team captain, he recorded a 67-yard pick-six against East Carolina and was named Pitt’s MVP for the season while also handling kick returns. The Panthers went 8-3-1 and won the Sun Bowl over Texas A&M.
Guess who else was part of the ’89 Panthers? A young grad assistant named Mike McCarthy. Along with Frank Cignetti Jr., now a Steelers senior offensive assistant.
Despite entering that ’89 season on media draft watch lists, Crossman went undrafted. He briefly spent time with the Washington Redskins and Detroit Lions. His crowning achievement as a professional football player came in the World Football League, the precursor to NFL Europe. Joining the London Monarchs for the 1991 and 1992 seasons, he was teammates with future NFL head coach Doug Marrone. Crossman blocked at least one punt for a touchdown and shined in the inaugural World Bowl.
After a coin toss attended by Pete Rozelle, Tom Landry, and Hank Stram, Crossman and the Monarchs’ defense thrived. Crossman, still wearing his college No. 31, picked off three passes – all in the first half – against QB Scott Erney. Here they are.
Here’s Crossman being handed the trophy by QB Stan Gelbaugh.
Crossman was named the game’s MVP and given a car, though I could not find out the make/model and how, or if, he got it back to the United States. Here’s his postgame interview.
By 1993, Crossman’s playing days were over and he broke into coaching. His first job came coaching defensive backs and special teams at the Coast Guard. The following year, he broke into the D-I college ranks at Western Kentucky, coaching defensive backs and, soon after, outside linebackers. He worked under the legendary Jack Harbaugh (father of John and Jim Harbaugh), who coached Crossman at Pitt.
Crossman’s first special teams coordinator job came at UCF in 1997 though he still continued to mentor defensive backs. In 1999, Georgia Tech hired him for the same special teams role with an additional defensive ends and later defensive backs responsibilities. After three years with the Yellow Jackets, Crossman became Michigan State’s STs coordinator.
His first NFL break came in 2003. John Fox and the Carolina Panthers tabbed Crossman as the team’s new special teams assistant. He replaced Darrin Simmons, who began and remains the Cincinnati Bengals’ special teams coordinator and one of football’s best.
Like most college-to-NFL hires, there was a connection between Fox and Crossman. Fox served as Pitt’s DC and DBs coach during Crossman’s time with the Panthers. In Carolina, he worked with DL Julius Peppers, a star defensive lineman with a knack for blocking kicks thanks to his rare height and length. Years later in Miami, Crossman enjoyed similar success with DL Calais Campbell.
In Carolina, Crossman spent two years as an assistant under Scott O’Brien before being promoted to O’Brien’s position of head coordinator in 2005. He held the role through 2009 but was fired shortly after the season ended after a year in which the Panthers ranked poorly across the special teams board.
The Detroit Lions tabbed him as their special teams coordinator in 2010. He spent another three years there. His time didn’t end in a firing. Instead, Crossman asked to be released from his contract to reunite with Doug Marrone, his Monarchs teammate, after he became the Buffalo Bills new head coach. Still, Lions fans were likely happy to see him go after a bad 2012 season in which even players recognized how pitiful their special teams were.
He spent six years in Buffalo, including the first two of the Sean McDermott regime. But the Bills moved on from Crossman after the 2018 season after a terrible year of punting.
He wasn’t out of work for long, hired by Brian Flores, the Miami Dolphins’ new head coach, in 2019. The two had never worked together before but had a common connection in O’Brien, who had worked alongside Flores in New England. A point Flores made in announcing the hire.
“Danny and I worked under Scott O’Brien and there is a lot of familiarity from technique, fundamentals and a vernacular standpoint,” Flores said. “Danny is full of energy and extremely good with the fundamentals. I am excited to have him.”
From 2019-2024, Crossman served as the Dolphins’ special teams coordinator. He survived another regime change from Flores to Mike McDaniel before McDaniel fired Crossman and assistant Wes Welker after the 2024 season.
“I am grateful for Danny’s contributions and dedication to the Dolphins over the course of many seasons, as well as the numerous ways he helped me as a head coach,” McDaniel said in a statement.” “I also want to thank Wes for his investment here. This was not a decision I came to lightly, but as I have evaluated the season and areas where we must improve, I believe that change is needed and am motivated to do what is best for the team as we move forward.”
As an ESPN article noted, the Dolphins finished poorly across the board in 2024: 21st in punt return average, 22nd in kick return average, and last in opponent kick return average (as in allowing the most yards per kick return). Crossman was one of the least-liked coaches in Miami with local blogs ripping him weekly.
He was out of the NFL in 2025 before being hired by McCarthy to join Pittsburgh.
Couple others notes. During the 2020 COVID year, Crossman was Miami’s backup plan if Flores got sick or tested positive for COVID. If he became unavailable, Crossman would serve as acting head coach. In 2021, Crossman was officially named assistant head coach, though he didn’t retain that title once McDaniel took over the following season.
Final odds and ends. He’s on record of getting to work early, once remarking he arrived at the Dolphins’ facility each morning by 3. During one year of My Cause, My Cleats, Crossman supported the Autism Speaks Foundation.
Danny Crossman’s Philosophy
Unfortunately, special teams coaches don’t receive much airtime or opportunities to dive into their philosophy. There’s no known clinic for us to sift through, either. The earliest quotes from him as a coach come from a 2005 “ESPN Page 2” article (which had some real gems, including one of my favorite pieces ever reviewing PNC Park), but Crossman didn’t say much relevant or interesting.
“Think about this, kickers are the only position subject to finger pointing,” Crossman said in his best quote. “In a sense they are paid to stand off to the side and then, on a moment’s notice, come in and answer the call in the clutch.”
One thing to know if Crossman is open to trick plays. In 2019, he was in charge of the “Mountaineer Shot,” a wildly fun play of holder/punter Matt Haack throwing a touchdown pass to kicker Jason Sanders. A thrilling call.
“Danny does a great job with the kicking game, and I think how that unit has played the entire year has been a big reason why we’ve had some of the success we’ve had,” Flores said of the play. “It was a great design.”
It was named the 2019 NFL play of the year. The “Mountaineer” name originates from center/snapper Daniel Kilgore, who played for the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
In 2020, upback Clayton Fejedelem executed a successful 22-yard fake against the Las Vegas Raiders.
But not all of Miami’s special teams gambles were successful. Another attempted fake by Fejedelem failed in 2022. Live and die by the sword. Still, keep an eye out for more trickery under Crossman than Danny Smith, who didn’t often dial them up.
In evaluating players, Crossman is looking for traits all coaches want.
“Selfless, smart, tough, available. If you have those things, you have a chance,” he said in a 2019 interview.
He added, “Good football players are good football players regardless of what you’re going to ask them to do.”
Once asked to describe how long snappers are judged, Crossman didn’t go into a Bill Belichick dissertation but gave a thoughtful answer.
“There’s a lot of things you look at,” he told the media. “What’s the tempo, what’s the location, what’s the placement. The laces. On the hip, left, right. Can he snap to an offset punter? Can he protect left, protect right, can he handle a big body? Can he stay square?”
He noted the importance and value of continuity and that having the same battery (snapper, holder/punter, kicker) is a plus.
Like most special teams coaches, he noted the new dynamic kickoff model is treated much more like an offensive play with players needing to react in a moment.
“Things happen fast,” he said.
It’s taken some of the speed out of the game. Years before, he noted 40 times alone don’t indicate how fast a player is once he’s on the field.
“As long as you play to your abilities…we’ve had 5.0 guys lead the team in tackles,” Crossman said, pointing out a 4.7 guy who processes quickly is faster than a 4.4 guy who doesn’t.
He’s not a pure return by committee or one returner guy, either, once saying he’ll adjust to whatever the roster offers.
Crossman came under criticism for his answer after a blunder-filled game against the New England Patriots, saying he doesn’t like to remind players of mid-game mistakes.
Dolphins special teams coordinator Danny Crossman says, after a game filled with blunders, the tone of his unit’s meetings doesn’t necessarily change.
I asked if he had to let guys hear it at halftime in NE. He said he doesn’t like to remind players of mistakes on game day. pic.twitter.com/R4LWKjcEQ8
— David Furones (@DavidFurones_) October 17, 2024
Crossman was Miami’s STs coordinator for the infamous “butt punt” against Buffalo in 2022 that resulted in a safety with Miami clinging to a late fourth quarter lead.
How will players respond to him? There it’s been a mixed bag. McDaniel once cited keeping Crossman because he felt like players could still buy-in. Though minor, onetime Miami punter Stone Wilson offered a less-than-stellar review of Crossman, though his commentary wasn’t truly bad. After being cut, Crossman reportedly told Wilson that he wouldn’t make it in the NFL as a punter. A candid and perhaps harsh answer but Wilson hasn’t punted again. Perhaps Crossman was just offering tough-but-accurate love.
Penalties were hit and miss. In Ross McCorkle’s 2023 study, the Steelers were the league’s worst offenders from 2020-2023. Miami fared much better, tied for sixth fewest. But in 2024, Crossman’s final year, Dolphins’ special teams were penalized a whopping 24 times. Pittsburgh? Just 13 times in the regular season. It’s easy to see why Crossman didn’t return.
Final Thoughts
Danny Crossman is an experienced special teams coach. This job is far from new. He seems to find enough success and stability to hang around for a little while but tends to wear out his welcome. Some of that is the life of a coach, stability is hard to find, but it greets the hire with skepticism.
Punting is an issue to watch. I’ll write a separate article on it, but Crossman’s units have not been strong. Not all of that is due to cold weather environments, either. Crossman’s units might flash with the occasional fun trick play, but they could frustrate with inconsistencies and penalties. Crossman’s hire feels middling, though he’ll be given a fair shake like everyone else.
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