Let us hearken back to the halcyon days of the end of the 2009 season. The Tampa Bay Buccanneers, then coached by Jon Gruden, managed to finish 9-7, just missing out on the playoffs. At the time, Rahim Morris, then the defensive co-ordinator for the Bucs, was the hot young assistant coach. In fact, he seemed poised to take over as the Denver Broncos next head coach. So, in a panic move, the Bucs’ ownership fired both Gruden and the general manager, giving Morris the job. Why? Because they were afraid to lose such a talented coaching prospect.
Fast forward to the end of the 2011 season. Morris has been fired, following a disastrous season where the Bucs went 4-12, losing their last eight games in a row. Josh Freeman, who appeared to be on the verge of stardom, regressed. The defense was shredded by the opposition, both on the ground and through the air. If you can’t stop anyone, and cannot score, then it’s a long season.
So, in the quest to find a head coach that can consistently win, they looked through several rejects and retreds. Really, Mike Sherman, Brad Childress, or Rob Chudzinski are actually getting interviews for head coaching positions? So, finally the Bucs decided to hire a college coach, Chip Kelly. He refused. So, on to Plan B – Greg Schiano, the man who coached Rutgers. Yes, Rutgers.
Schiano spent his initial press conference talking about how he wants to bring accountability and disipline to the Bucs. Funny, since players he was recruiting to bring to Rutgers learned that he took the Bucs job by watching SportsCenter. That is still better than how his assistants found out – when Schiano did not appear during recruiting treks. Interesting how someone who is stressing accountability seems not to have any.
The Schiano hiring will, in all likelihood, be another two or three year footnote in the history of terrible head coaches that the Bucs have had. So what does this all mean? That the Bucs should have never fired Gruden in the first place. Yes, he had his issues and flaws, but the man won a Super Bowl with Brad Johnson as his quarterback. He made Brian Griese and Chris Simms appear competent. He resurrected Jeff Garcia’s career. Imagine what he would do with Josh Freeman.
The Bucs should have swallowed their pride and done everything they could to bring back Gruden. Instead, they will suffer for their panic move back in 2009.
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