Joe has been fortunate to be able to watch a few Bucs offseason practices this spring and, man, is there a difference from last year.

It’s not just hollering by coaches, including new coach Greg Schiano, but the overall feel and look of the workouts. The word “crisp” comes to Joe’s mind. No time is wasted. Even when guys are given water breaks, it appears — from a distance — that assistants are using the short downtime periods as teaching moments while players gulp water.

And Joe just loves how the simplest fundamentals are stressed.

The word of these practices seems to have traveled cross-country, as a Bucs fan on the left coast wondered if the New Schiano Order will result in victories this fall in a TBO Bucs Q&A.

Q: I can smell the excitement all the way from Washington about the Bucs’ new regime. I’m curious though what your opinion(s) are about the discipline and demeanor of new Bucs head coach Greg Schiano. I’m a school teacher with traditional values and make my students “toe the line.” After watching every game last year and following up with studying game film I saw immaturity prevail. Last year’s Bucs looked lifeless and careless.

My question is this: How is the progress so far at One Buc Place for Schiano’s “Buccaneer Way” transformation? Working with late adolescent millionaires might require little less than a miracle compared to my 8th grade P.E. class.

Curtis Weber, Spokane, Wash.

A: As for the transformation, all seems to be going well. Coach Schiano is clearly getting rid of those who choose not to buy into his program and that will send a clear message to the current and potentially future Bucs that his way is the only way. That’s a good thing. Like your students football players, even veteran ones, need guidance and leadership.

No team has 53 Hardy Nickersons or Ronde Barbers or Warren Sapps, guys who “get it” from the very start and know how to be pros, work their game and improve steadily as time goes on. Most teams have two or three of those guys and so the coaches have to be the real leaders and they have to lead with smart discipline. By that I mean there has to be a payoff for all that they’re doing.

It’s kind of like the Karate Kid. He didn’t understand why he was washing and waxing all those cars until his mentor showed him the skills he’d developed through consistent work habits. It’s the same with football. If you get used to running from one drill to another all day in practice, you’ll run all day on Sunday, too.

— Woody Cummings

Joe learned long ago in football — and in other aspects of life — that if you do the little things right all the time, the big things take care of themselves. Schiano often quotes his mentor Joe Paterno using this philosophy and it was also an axiom of Father Dungy’s.

And if anyone is brave (or drunk) enough to go back to their DVR and watch some of the Bucs games during the grotesque 10-game losing streak from last season, one will be reminded of how sorely this squad needed some fundamentals.