Hustling to fill all the spots before assistants are precluded by league guidelines from switching teams, new Tampa Bay head coach Jon Gruden caught a break on Thursday, when the Bucs were able to retain all of the defensive aides from the Tony Dungy staff.

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, line coach Rod Marinelli, linebackers aide Joe Barry and secondary coach Mike Tomlin will all remain with the team. Marinelli, who had a standing offer to join Dungy in Indianapolis as the Colts' coordinator, was promoted to assistant head coach. He will continue, however, to tutor the defensive linemen.

The defensive assistants had been precluded from seeking positions with other teams during the Bucs' five-week search for a new coach, and that lack of mobility angered some coaches. But it is believed that Tampa Bay officials awarded each of the holdover assistant coaches new contracts to compensate for the uncertainty of the past five weeks.

Those new contracts probably are for three years.

As part of the arrangement that permitted Gruden to leave the Raiders with a year remaining on his contract, Oakland owner Al Davis stipulated he could take no assistants with him to Tampa Bay. For obvious reasons, and because he has faith in Kiffen and knows the staff fairly well, Gruden was receptive to keeping all the defensive assistants.

"Monte and Rod's leadership and coaching expertise are key strengths of the Tampa Bay Bucs," Gruden said. "Joe and Mike are rising stars in this profession and I look forward to working with all of them."

The team has only one offensive assistant -- longtime NFL line coach Bill Muir, who moved from the New York Jets to the Bucs even before anyone knew who the new Tampa Bay coach would be -- under contract. Gruden would like to add his brother, Arena League quarterback Jay Gruden, as an assistant. Gruden will probably coach the quarterbacks himself and, as was the case with the Raiders, he will call the plays.

The Bucs have the only unit in the league to rank among the top 10 in total defense in each of the last five seasons and Tampa Bay's 1,342 points allowed since 1997 are the fewest in the NFL. Dating back to 1997, the Bucs have never ranked lower than No. 9 in total defense for a season.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.