Tem Lukabu Named Defensive Coordinator

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College head football coach Jeff Hafley has announced the hiring of Tem Lukabu as defensive coordinator. A rising star in the coaching industry, Lukabu returns to the collegiate ranks after spending the 2019 season as the Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach.

"Tem is a tremendous coach with experience both in the NFL and on the collegiate level," said Hafley. "I have had the opportunity to work with him and have seen how bright of a defensive mind he is. He is a great person who is smart, intelligent and relates to players extremely well. He fits all of our values of what BC is all about and we could not be happier to have Tem, his wife Kate, and their three children, daughters Zaida and Kamryn, and son Pax, join our BC Football family."

In his one season with the Bengals, Lukabu mentored linebacker Nick Vigil, who was second on the team in tackles with 111 stops. It marked his fifth year as a NFL coach in 2019 for Lukabu.

Lukabu came to Cincinnati after spending the 2018 season at Mississippi State, where he served as the linebackers coach.

In 2018, Lukabu helped Mississippi State's defense become one of the top units in college football. The Bulldogs' defense allowed just 144 points, the fewest in the country and the third-fewest in FBS over the last 10 seasons, while ranking sixth nationally in pass defense (164.2 yards per game), 10th in rush defense (104.3 yards per game), and third in total defense (268 yards per game). Additionally, the Bulldogs' 36 sacks ranked second in the SEC.

From 2016-17, Lukabu served as the defensive quality control coach with the San Francisco 49ers and worked alongside Hafley. He worked primarily with the 49ers' linebackers in 2016, before shifting his focus to the team's secondary in '17. He helped guide the secondary through an array of injuries in 2017, as two of his charges — CB Dontae Johnson (team-high 76 tackles) and S Eric Reid (66 tackles) — finished among the team's top-three tacklers.

In 2015, Lukabu served as the defensive line coach at Florida International University, where he guided defensive ends Michael Wakefield and Denzell Perine to all-conference honors. In 2014, he served as the outside linebackers coach at his alma mater, Colgate University.

Prior to his time at Colgate, Lukabu spent two seasons (2012-13) as a defensive assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and worked on the defensive staff with Hafley. In 2013, Lukabu helped Bucs LB Lavonte David to then-career highs in sacks (seven) and interceptions (three), en route to earning first-team All-Pro honors. In 2012, he helped guide the Bucs to a No. 1 NFL ranking against the run after finishing the '11 season last in that category. During his time in Tampa Bay, he worked with DT Gerald McCoy, who in 2012 and '13 earned his first two Pro Bowl nominations and first-team all-pro nods.

Lukabu joined Tampa Bay following two seasons (2010-11) at Rutgers University, where he coached outside linebackers. In 2011, Lukabu coached LB Khaseem Greene, who led the team with 144 tackles and earned conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors, the first player in Rutgers history to do so. Before working with the Scarlet Knights, Lukabu spent two seasons (2008-09) as linebackers coach at Rhode Island.

He began his coaching career working in player development at Rutgers (2006-08), where he was responsible for the academic growth and development of football players, monitoring the academic performance of specific players with special needs and assisting in the execution of plans and academic goals set for the team.

A former linebacker, Lukabu was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at Colgate from 2000-03. During his time at Colgate, he helped the Raiders to back-to-back Patriot League titles and was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year in both 2002 and '03, becoming the first player to claim that honor twice. He was a first-team All-Patriot League selection both seasons and was named a third-team Associated Press All-American. He was also a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the national defensive player of the year in Division I-AA.

Lukabu was born Aug. 6, 1981, in Kinshasa, the capital and largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in history with a minor in political science from Colgate in 2004.

He and his wife, Kate, have three children — daughters Zaida and Kamryn, and son Pax. Kate Lukabu was team captain for Colgate's women's soccer team, the Patriot League's 2003 Offensive Player of the Year. His first name is pronounced "TEMM," and his last name is pronounced "LUKE-uh-boo."

The Lukabu File
Birthday: Aug. 6, 1981
Hometown: Kinshasa, Congo
Alma Mater: Colgate, 2004
Family: Wife Kate; son Pax; daughters Zaida and Kamryn

Coaching Career
2019: Cincinnati Bengals (Linebackers)
2018: Mississippi State (Linebackers)
2016-17: San Francisco 49ers (Defensive Quality Control)
2015: Florida International (Defensive Line)
2014: Colgate (Outside Linebackers)
2012-13: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Defensive Assistant)
2010-11: Rutgers (Outside Linebackers)
2008-09: Rhode Island (Outside Linebackers)

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