Craig Aukerman joined the Miami Dolphins as special teams coordinator in 2025. The 2025 campaign marks Aukerman's 26th season as a coach, 16th in the NFL and eighth as a coordinator.
Aukerman joined the Dolphins after serving with the Los Angeles Rams during the 2024 season as an assistant special teams coach. The Rams achieved a 10-7 record, the NFC West division title and advanced to the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Aukerman spent seven seasons (2017-23) with the Tennessee Titans where he began as an assistant special teams coach. He was promoted to special teams coordinator in 2018 and assistant head coach/special teams coordinator in 2023. Throughout his tenure with Tennessee, Aukerman helped the Titans reach the postseason in four of seven seasons, winning two AFC South division titles, advancing to the AFC Championship in 2019 and securing the No. 1 seed in the AFC in 2021.
From 2022-23, Aukerman mentored punter Ryan Stonehouse who led the league and set an NFL record with a 53.1 gross punting average as part of his 2022 rookie campaign. Following the 2022 season, Stonehouse was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team and second-team All-Pro. He finished fourth in the NFL that season and set a rookie record with a 44.0-yard net average.
He coached two Pro Bowl players in punter Brett Kern (2017-19) and long snapper Morgan Cox (2022). Kern led the NFL in both net punting average (44.6) and gross punting average (49.7) in 2017. His 44.6-yard net punting average ranked second in NFL history at the time. He also led the league with 52.7 percent of his punts (39 of 74) placed inside the 20 in 2018 and in 2019 led the NFL in punts inside the 20 (37). Kern led the league again in 2020 with 59.5 percent of his punts (22 of 37) inside the 20 and had the league's third-best ratio of punts inside the 20 to touchbacks (18:1) in 2021.
Between 2017-21, the Titans ranked 10th in punt return average (8.8 yards per return) and had the fifth-fewest special teams penalties in the NFL (67). Kern ranked second in the NFL with a 42.5-yard net punting average in that period.
In 2018, Aukerman's first season as the Titans' special teams coordinator, the team set a new NFL record for kickoff return average (32.0), becoming the first team in NFL history to average more than 30.0 yards per kickoff return in a season.
Prior to joining the Titans, Aukerman spent four seasons (2013-16) with the San Diego Chargers as an assistant special teams coach (2013-15) and special teams coordinator (2016).
Aukerman's first coaching role in the league came in 2010 as a defensive assistant for the Denver Broncos. He then joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 in the same capacity before transitioning to special teams with Jacksonville in 2012 as an assistant special teams coach.
Prior to the NFL, Aukerman spent 10 years coaching at the collegiate level. He served as the linebackers coach at Kent State during the 2009 season. He had two stints at Miami of Ohio, as linebackers coach and co-special teams coordinator from 2005-08 and previously as a graduate assistant from 2001-02. Aukerman also spent two seasons as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Western Kentucky (2003-04).
His first coaching role was at his alma mater, the University of Findlay, as wide receivers coach in 2000. Aukerman played defensive back and wide receiver for the Findlay Oilers from 1995-98 and was a member of both the 1995 and 1997 NAIA National Championship teams. He was a two-time NAIA All-American in 1997-98 and also earned first-team All-GLIAC defensive honors in 1998. Aukerman was a dual-sport athlete and played baseball in his junior year.
In 2021, Aukerman founded the Aukerman Family Foundation, which is dedicated to positively impacting local youth by providing scholarships to college-bound students and sponsoring programs that strength family relationships through sports. The foundation annually hosts youth football camps in his home state of Ohio.
Aukerman and his wife, Summer, have two sons: Cayden and Bryce.