It looks like Black Friday has extended all the way out to Wednesday with the firings still going on. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired head coach Lovie Smith after just two years with the team. Many would question that since the team won three times as many games as he did in his first year.
But if the Buccaneers are hiring who I think they are to take his place this isn’t a surprise at all. First, Smith cut cornerback Darrelle Revis only to see him ball out and win a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots. He also cut former 1st-round safety Mark Barron and oversaw the two worst pass defenses in franchise history.
Meanwhile, the reason why the Buccaneers won three times as many games is offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. So Smith can’t be given credit for the progress the Buccaneers made this year and Koetter is a hot head coaching candidate. This situation reminds me a lot of the Oakland Raiders after they broke a 7-year losing record streak with Tom Cable as head coach.
Cable had little to do with the success as it was Hue Jackson’s offense that made the Raiders so much better. He scrapped Cable’s zone-blocking scheme and the Raiders offense went from the bottom of the league to the top 10. So legendary Raiders owner Mark Davis had an easy choice to make as Cables contract was up anyway.
There were many more teams interested in Jackson than Cable at the time just like the situation with Smith and Koetter. ESPN First Take debater Stephen A. Smith likes to bring up St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys head coaches Jeff Fisher and Jason Garrett keeping their jobs with the bad football their teams are playing.
But as much as I appreciate the way Smith speaks out about black coaches in the NFL, he’s wrong here. He’s especially wrong if Koetter ends up getting the job, which I believe he will, at the end of the day here. Sometimes the best coach on a team isn’t the head coach and when there a chance they may lose him, something must be done.
Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer said on NFL Network, “After careful consideration, we informed Lovie that we have decided to make a change. I want to thank Lovie for his hard work and dedication to the Buccaneers during his time here. This decision was difficult on a variety of levels. I am disappointed that we were not more successful these past few seasons, but we are committed to doing what is necessary to give our fans the winning team they deserve. As we move forward, general manager Jason Licht will oversee the process for finding our next head coach.”
Quarterback Jameis Winston doesn’t need to be separated from Koetter and offensive system after on year. So it makes all the sense in the world for the Buccaneers to announce Koetter as their new head coach. .But first, they will conduct a thorough coaching search with several candidates over the next week or so.