Joe was fortunate enough to speak with former Bucs  head coach Sam Wyche Saturday. Wyche coached a team in the Under Armour High School All-America all star game held at Tropicana Field.

Wyche’s team, naturally, won. One of his pupils was a young quarterback by the name of Nick Montana.

Yup. You guessed it. Joe’s son.

Wyche has a throat disorder as a result of botched medical procedure that makes speaking for him a task. Since he was talking, if not yelling, most of the afternoon while coaching his team, Joe could tell Wyche had a great deal of discomfort talking to him, so Joe kept the interview short.

JoeBucsFan: So, have the Bucs reached out to you yet to gauge your interest in returning?

Sam Wyche: No (laughs). But if the Bucs, or any team, want to talk, my number is 1-800-CALL-SAM, if anyone asks.

Joe: Tell us about your feelings coming back to the Tampa Bay area.

Sam: This is one of my favorite places to live. I just love water but I also love flying and getting out and exercising. I’ve been flying for almost 40 years. CBS let me fly to just about anywhere I went to. I’ve actually grounded myself now because I have a heart problem. But I am healthy and ready to go again.

Joe: Give me your perspective on the Bucs. Do you think it’s wise to keep Raheem Morris or should the Bucs go elsewhere? There are rumors the Bucs reached out to Bill Cowher.

Sam: Unless you are in that office [One Buc Palace] and have that personal contact with whoever you are employing, whoever is in charge needs to have that right chemistry, has to have that right knowledge, has to have the right background, all of those kind of things. That’s somebody else’s decision that knows [Morris] on a day-to-day basis. I trust them to make the right decision. I think the Glazers made the right decision to get rid of me (laughs).

Joe: A lot of people point to Father Dungy as the man responsible for the turnaround of the Bucs. But many people seem to forget or don’t even seem to know that the core of the Bucs that eventually made it to the Super Bowl — Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch — were drafted under your regime. Do you think that you don’t get enough credit for the Bucs turnaround?

Sam: I’m like anyone else: I love a good compliment. But Tony did the work and he deserves the credit for it. I was lucky to draft a couple of those guys. But we were a couple of running backs away from [turning the corner] and they got them the next year [after Dungy was hired] and they took off.

Joe: Do you own a vacation home or any property down here?

Sam: No, we don’t. We own a nice place in South Carolina. But we’d like to come back.