Dave Toub enters his sixth season as Chicago’s special teams coordinator after his unit finished eighth in the NFL (according to the Dallas Morning News ranking system), ranking in the top third of the league for the fifth straight season after finishing No. 1 overall in 2006 and 2007.

Toub has been associated with a unit ranking No. 1 in four of the last eight years. While an assistant special teams and defensive line coach for Philadelphia from 2001-03, the Eagles won the special teams titles in Toub’s first and last seasons there. Toub was hired by the Bears on January 24, 2004. In 2006 and 2007, the Bears became just the second team since the system was created in 1990 to finish with the No. 1 overall ranking in back-to-back seasons. He was voted as the Special Teams Coach of the Year by his NFL coaching peers after the 2006 season. Toub coordinated Chicago to special teams rankings of 11th in 2005 and 10th in his first season with the team in 2004.

The Bears ranked in the top 10 in the league in 11 of the 22 categories used in the ranking system in 2008 and in the top five in eight areas. Chicago held the top ranking in blocked kicks and punts inside-the-20 and finished second in punt coverage, starting point after kickoffs and takeaways.

The 2008 season marked the second-straight year the Bears led the NFL in blocked kicks with four (two punts, one field goal and one extra point). In 2007, they led the league with eight blocked kicks and have an NFL-best 16 since 2004, Toub’s first year in Chicago.

Punter Brad Maynard led the NFL in 2008 with a career-high 40 punts inside-the-20, second most in the league since the statistic was first recorded in 1976. In 2008, the Bears kickoff return unit excelled for the third straight season. Danieal Manning led the NFL with a 29.7 kickoff return average as Chicago average a starting point of the 32-yard line after kickoffs, second highest in the league. A year earlier, the Bears scored an NFL record six kick return touchdowns (four punt and two kickoff) after tying the league mark at five in 2006. Reinforcing the team concept of taking advantage of every opportunity to score, in Toub’s tenure the Bears have an NFL-high 15 kick return touchdowns, including the postseason. Since Toub’s arrival, the Bears lead the NFL in punt return yards (2,446) and touchdowns (nine) and rank second in punt return average (10.9 ypr).

Chicago’s punt coverage unit finished second in the league in 2008 allowing just 5.6 yards per return and ranks second overall since Toub’s arrival in 2004 (7.1 ypr). The Bears kickoff coverage unit ranks seventh in the NFL since 2004 allowing just 21.2 yards per return.

In 2007, Toub became the first special teams coach in team history to send multiple players to the Pro Bowl in consecutive seasons as specialist Brendon Ayanabadejo and kick returner Devin Hester each were selected for a second straight season. A year earlier marked the first time in team history a special teams coach tutored three Pro Bowl performers in one season when Ayanabadejo, Hester and kicker Robbie Gould all made their first career all-star appearances.

Hester broke his own NFL record with six kick return touchdowns in 2007 after setting the mark at five in his rookie season of 2006. In 2007, Gould was one field goal short of tying his own franchise mark of 32 fields goal made and became the first player in team history with back-to-back seasons with 30-plus field goals made and first in franchise history to have back-to-back seasons with an 85 percent or higher field goal accuracy.

Under Toub the Bears rewrote the history books by establishing and tying the record for longest-play in NFL history all in a year’s span, although the record fell in 2007. Nathan Vasher set the record in 2005 with a 108-yard missed field goal return only to be matched by Hester on the same type of play just 365 days later in 2006. Only eight missed field goals have been returned for touchdowns since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.

In 2005 Toub’s unit ranked second in the NFL in kickoff coverage and 15th in punt coverage. Chicago's kickoff coverage unit ranked 28th in the NFL after three games, but the addition of Gould as a rookie led to improved execution of Toub's coverage plans. The Bears led the NFL by allowing just 18.2 yards per return with Gould kicking off over the final 13 games of the season. The undrafted Penn State product also ranked second among NFL rookies with 82 points while tying for second all-time among Bears rookies with 21 field goals and a .778 conversion percentage.

The Bears special teams ranked 10th in the NFL in Toub’s first season with the team highlighted by a League-low opponent net punt average. Toub molded one of the NFL's top kick coverage units despite losing four leading special teams tacklers from the previous season. He developed Adrian Peterson into the team's special teams tackle leader with a career-high 28.

During his stint with Philadelphia (2001-03), Toub helped Eagles special teams coordinator John Harbaugh earn 2001 NFL Special Teams Coach-of-the-Year honors. A ninth-round draft choice of the Eagles in 1985, Toub returned to Philadelphia 16 years later (2001) as the team's special teams/quality control coach.

Toub spent 15 seasons coaching at the college level before making the jump to the NFL, highlighted by 12 years at Missouri (1989-2000). He coached the defensive line for the final three years of his Mizzou stint (1998-2000), spending the previous nine years (1989-98) as the school's head strength coach. Toub helped produce three all-Big 12 linemen from 1998-2000, including Justin Smith, a first-round draft pick by Cincinnati in 2001. In that capacity he was responsible for the training efforts of 18 varsity sports and, in 1998, was named the Big 12 Conference's strength coach of the year. Toub began his coaching career in 1986 at his alma mater, Texas-El Paso, as a graduate assistant. One year later he began a two-year stint as the school's head strength and conditioning coach (1987-88).

A native of Mahopac, N.Y., Toub was selected in the 9th round by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1985 NFL Draft. He also spent time in 1986 with the Los Angeles Rams. His career at UTEP included two all-WAC selections and two Academic all-WAC nominations (1983-84). The two-time team captain was also named the program's most outstanding offensive lineman during his junior and senior seasons. Toub earned his Bachelor of Science and Master's of Education degrees from UTEP.

Toub was born in 1962, in Ossining, NY. He and his wife, Cheryl, have one son, Shane, and one daughter, Nicolette.