John McKay Will Be Next In The Ring
June 14th, 2010
Who could argue against John McKay?
The Bucs’ first and iconic head coach will be the 2010 inductee into the Bucccaneers Ring of Honor, so says Tampa Tribune NFL writer eye-RAH! Kaufman. Lee Roy Selmon was the inaugural inductee last year.
After winning four national championships at Southern Cal, McKay was named to lead the 1976 expansion Bucs. He compiled a 44-88-1 record and won two division championships, developing a national reputation for his acerbic wit.
In just the fourth year of the franchise, McKay guided the 1979 Bucs to an NFC Central Division title and a playoff win against the Eagles before dropping a 9-0 decision to the Los Angeles Rams in the conference title game at the old Tampa Stadium.
The late McKay was no doubt the perfect coach for the expansion Buccaneers and deserves the accolades.
Of course, most Bucs fans have little or no recollection of McKay. So Joe is impressed that Team Glazer picked him for 2010.
Surely, a Derrick Brooks induction would have sold a heck of a lot more tickets. It’s good to see the money wasn’t that important to Team Glazer.
June 14th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
They should give out McKay replica hats
June 14th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
McKay’s hard to argue with…..but my vote goes to Paul Gruber. Guy would have been border line HOF had he been on a better team, but being stuck in TB he couldn’t even make the Pro Bowl. Gruber would’ve been a $10M/yr guy in today’s league.
An OT for the Bucs of the ’80’s and early ’90’s? A thankless job on a woeful team. Give Gruber his due.
June 14th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
WOOOHOOO!!!!!! They got this right !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 14th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Good choice. He was the first head coach. He led them to their first playoff berths. Here are the others I want in the Ring of Honor in the coming years: D. Williams, R. Bell, Giles, Wilder, Gruber, Nickerson, Dunn, Brooks, Sapp, Alstott, Barber, Lynch.
June 14th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Eric S:
No love for Mark Cotney?
June 14th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Joe,
You mentioned the Glazers and the money not being important. If you think about it, they are probably doing it EXACTLY for that reason. They need to honor someone and they know the stadium will be empty this season. Might as well get McKay out of the way now. I don’t know if people would be coming out of the woodwork in this economy (and with this roster) just to see Brooks get an honor.
Just my two cents. Could be wrong.
June 14th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Cotney was a decent player. But if you put him in, then that opens the door for other decent players who played here a long time. I would definitely be in favor of putting the ’79 team in the Ring of Honor. That way you can honor players like Cotney, Batman, C. Brown. I don’t think anything will ever capture the excitement that the ’79 team had on the community.
June 14th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Great Choice!
That guy was a good coach.
June 14th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
which is why there should be a class induction of the 79 era…
Mike Washington had a crazy number of punt reurns with out a fair catch….150 area Wilder,Bell,Bill Kollar,Cecil Johnson,Hannah,Dave Green
June 14th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Great choice
June 14th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
How about jimmy giles?
Excellent TE
June 14th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
I think Doug Williams was pretty much ruled out for this year the second he was fired….they’ll wait until everyone forgets we srewed him…
June 14th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Write down this date and time:
June 14th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Eric’s first positive comment about the BUCS. The Bucs made a “great choice!”
June 14th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Joe…I Enjoy your site to no end. Please, we all know how great a player and even better man Derrick Brooks is. You don’t have to sell him anymore. His time will come. I remember Coach McKay very well and happy he was chosen for the Ring of Honor. Let us old timers recognize the old sombrero team and you young guys can gush all over the Brooks, Allsott and such. I really don’t think that anymore tickets will be sold the day Coach is inducted or Brooks for that matter. People are tired and broke.
June 14th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Good choice. Though I wasn’t even born yet when McKay was the coach, I realize how big of part he had in our history. He was a fine coach that helped turned this team from disaster to a near super bowl team. RIP John McKay.
Next in line: MIKE NUGENT!
June 15th, 2010 at 12:01 am
You are making some of us feel old Patrick. McKay was a gem with the English language. The From Worst to First ’79 Highlights tape should be required viewing for Bucs fan. It is great and filled with McKay quips. It always cracks me up when McKay yells at his team to block before a key PAT attempt late in the game against the Vikings. They had an earlier PAT blocked. Of course the Bucs get the 2nd one blocked as well and McKay throws his hands in disgust. It is high theater. When I think about it, that closely resembles the ending of “North Dallas Forty”. The same exact thing.
Even if the ’79 team beat the Rams, they would have been slaughtered by the Steelers. Williams got hurt in the Rams game. So the Bucs would have had Mike Rae leading them against the Steel Curtain. Frightening. I think the opposite would have happened 20 years later. The ’99 team would have killed the Titans. That D was awesome and it is too bad the refs blew the Bert Emanuel call. 2 blown calls changed the history of the franchise. That one and The Tuck rule.
June 15th, 2010 at 12:37 am
@Eric S
lol I have seen some of the 79 highlights. Gotta say it was fun to watch. Man, if Doug Williams had stayed around the Bucs probably would not have been losers for 14 straight years. But yet again, Dungy might not have been here either, or derrick brooks and warren sapp. Weird how one unfortunate thing changes the whole history of a franchise.
June 15th, 2010 at 7:44 am
@eric S
What I remember about that Minnesota game is that then Governor Bob Graham was doing his “Profession of the day” as a sportwriter and was present when McKay went into a post game tirade after the second blocked extra point. He wrote an article in the Trib the next day.
classic.
The man also deserves kudos for drafting Doug at a time when that disgraceful “black QB” BS was still present. Only to haave Hugh screw it up over 100K later of course.
June 15th, 2010 at 9:56 am
That was a bad day when Doug left for the USFL. It shouldn’t have happened. The guy’s wife just died, McKay wanted him back and Culverhouse still stiffed him over 100k.
June 15th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
A great choice. I was still a kid when McKay coached the Bucs, and remember the excitement that team brought to Tampa .
Best quote ever about early team
Reporter” coach, what about your team’s execution?
McKay ” I’m in favor of it”
Brooks 07, speaking strictly for me, I would go anywhere to see Derrick Brooks honored, and plan to be there at Canton, as I Was for Leroy Selmon.
And even on a harmless little article like this, radio Mushforbrains still sneaks in a cheap shot! Proving what I’ve already said. The only way for this guy to be of any use to society, is to use his hollow Lil head in the gulf as an Oil filter. And on the off chance that he does the honorable thing(filter head), I would like to thank him, on behalf of myself, Tampa bay, and BP!!
June 15th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
I wonder if Rich will attend the game in his dad’s honor? I hope so, that would be nice to see.
Would be great to see a lot of coach Mckay’s players show up also to pay tribute.
June 16th, 2010 at 2:03 am
They should do more than one a year. One a year, man that’s too slow. There’s so many players and coaches that deserve it. it’ll take at least 15 or 20 years to complete this list the rate they’re doing it.
John McKay was a great choice. I think Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden will join him in the ROH one day. Though I think it’ll be a LONG time before Gruden is inducted. It’s weird to imagine him having anything to do with the organization in the near future considering the ugly ending he had here not too long ago and the fact that he’s not still not liked by many people. Him and the Bucs organization along the city of Tampa need time for the relationship to be healed.
Him being celebrated at halftime anytime soon….. that’d sure be interesting. and weird to see.