The Detroit Lions officially named Joe Marciano as their new special teams coordinator.
Marciano replaces John Bonamego, who left to take the head-coaching job at Central Michigan.
"Joe obviously has had a remarkable career," Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said. "First of all, we were trying to find a guy that had a significant amount of experience. We have a fairly veteran team and we wanted to make certain that we had a guy in there who has been through it before and understands how to implement a new system.
"Not only that, he had results in the past. The role they (special teams coordinators) play is vast within the framework of a team because of the fact that they probably touch, motivate and talk to more players than anyone except for the head coach, so it requires a guy with a unique skill level to be able to do that.
"He has to be a fine communicator. He also has to have a real fine sense of talent and how to utilize that all within the framework of special teams."
Marciano, a quarterback in college at Temple, has spent a total of 29 years coaching special teams in the NFL, including 12 with the Houston Texans. He spent the 2014 season as a consultant for the Minnesota Vikings.
