No Hot Seat For Dominik?
July 25th, 2012
The inevitable and proverbial “hot seat” season is here, when fans and media try to figure out what coaches, executives and players have a season or less to prove themselves or be shown the door.
Is rockstar general manager Mark Dominik among those feeling the heat? Tampa Tribune Bucs beat writer Woody Cummings doesn’t think so, per a Q & A session on TBO.com.
Q: With the hiring of head coach Greg Schiano, is this a make-or-break year for GM Mark Dominik, or has he bought himself a year or two to prove that he can build a competitive roster?
Peter Rubaek, Copenhagen, Denmark
A: I think Mark Dominik has bought himself a few years here. He was brought in to rebuild the Bucs primarily through the draft and he seems to have done a decent job. On paper at least this is a very talented team. A lot will depend, however, on how Josh Freeman, Gerald McCoy, Adrian Clayborn, LeGarrette Blount, Mike Williams, Doug Martin, Mark Barron and Mason Foster perform over the next year or two. Those are the cornerstones of his rebuilding project. If they work out and the team becomes respectable and competitive again he’ll be fine. If they struggle and it’s proven out that mistakes were made in drafting them, he could be in trouble. — Roy Cummings
Now Joe has to disagree with Cummings. If the Bucs churn out the 3-13 record Pat Kirwan and others seem to think is on tap for 2012, Joe would expect Dominik to be looking over his shoulder. Team Glazer clearly didn’t have a problem jettisoning Bruce Allen, who had years left on his contract, as does Dominik.
That’s just life in the NFL. Losing brings consequences.
Dominik’s reign definitely has been polarizing, thanks to both incredible successes and colossal failures.
Joe suspects Dominik will be just fine, though. Joe expects the Bucs to make strides this season, And as Joe’s written previously, Joe would only pin 15 percent of the blame on the front office for the Bucs’ collapse under Raheem Morris.
Joe’s confident Dominik will benefit greatly from the new coaching staff knowing how to use the Bucs’ talented roster.
July 25th, 2012 at 8:49 am
@joe.. Agree to disagree.. Dominik responsible for 33.3% if not more. With bad vision and terrible contracts and with him hiring the coaching staff from the last regime that it’s players quit playing for there is no way he’s only responsible for 15%. Not to mention not one of the last 2 drafts players are considered elite at this time. I predict you and Cummings are dead wrong and Dominik is living on borrowed time and will fired at the end of the year regardless the results. Not to mention he just promoted Dickey who has much a failure at this point. Looking at his overall record and the fact he has the worst team defense in the history of the team on his resume and extending ridiculous contracts he has to be fired once Schiano is up and running smoothly. What can one say that he’s done right that you can really hang your hat on other than do what the Glazers say. No Rockstar at all more like a groupie of the owners.
July 25th, 2012 at 8:50 am
It’s the job of the GM to draft talent. It’s the job of the coach to compile a winning record with that talent. I think the coaching was so bad last year that no one really knows how talented we really are. This year I expect the drafting of Dom to really shine. If not…. if these players quit on Schiano the way they did on Morris, then we could see a real shakeup but I don’t expect that to happen.
July 25th, 2012 at 9:07 am
I hope everything works out for him because I really don’t want to keep going through this “rebuilding” phase.
July 25th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Cummings is so informative and decisive. He could be ok or he could be in trouble! Good middle of the road position Roy! I’m with you Joe. Dominik has a couple of good years left before the Glazer’s make a decision on him. It takes time to build success, the Glazer’s know it and he will get that time.
July 25th, 2012 at 9:25 am
Again – it’s “Boy Band General Manager” Mark Dominik. As in he just picks random people who look good together and throws them out there to perform. That makes more sense. Ask Lou Pearlman.
Dominik has drafted TWO legit starters. TWO. In THREE YEARS.
I don’t think it’s a reach to say the best moves are the ones he DIDN’T make. Failing to sign Albert Haynesworth, choosing NOT to resign Antonio Bryant.
I think he blew the draft this year and MISSED Mo Claiborne (notice I don’t say PASSED on Claiborne. He MISSED. He thought he would be there later and he wasn’t). If Mark Barron isn’t Ed Reed/Ronnie Lott, it was a reach. Everyone he drafted has fell short of expectations or is gone.
That being said, all these draftees that Dominik drafted need to perform now…. this season. There is really a silver lining to all this: if the players he drafted stay healthy and perform true to advertisements, this could be a really great Bucs season.
July 25th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Make or break year for Dominik, who needs to prove he can draft/sign a decent and reliable defensive player other than Clayborn.
July 25th, 2012 at 10:00 am
This past draft will decide the fate of Dom.
It will also help if Dom’s top 5 draft pick can just stay healthy.
Mike Nugent, Quincy Black, and Derrick Ward were all WTF signings.
I reserve judgement on Dom until after this year. So far, the Bucs are 17-31 with Dommbehind the helm. Injuries and a TIGHT budget may be the culprit for our recent failures.
Dom is and should be on the hot seat. We need to see his draft picks contribute and perform.
I am holding out hope that Dom just drafted his first pro bowler in Mark Barron. (so glad we PASSED on Mo Claibourne.)
July 25th, 2012 at 10:26 am
You guys crack me up with the “no pro-bowlers drafted”! We don’t even know if Dom has drafted any pro-bowlers, yet. If he did, we will know this year, I’m sure. Both Sapp and Brooks took three years before their 1st pro-bowls, Lynch and Barber 5 years, etc. I’m not sure what has caused this “right now attitude”? Give these players a friggin chance!
BTW I passed a Mo, once, and it hurt for a week!
July 25th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Here is the thing to remember about Mark, he did not have the ability to select his first head coach to work with. That he had to deal with Rah and try to make it work is to his credit. Also he is a company man loyal to the owners and the lowest paid GM in the league. He is safe as long as they show improvement with Schiano at the helm.
July 25th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Please tell me Adam, what Antonio Bryant and his chronic knee problems did after we didnt resign him? And saying we MISSED on one of the 3 stooges in Mo Claiborne is ridiculous. The dude cant tackle and relies on his pure athleticism instead of technique, we’ll see how far that gets him.
July 25th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Incredible successes? Where?
In the NFL, how can a GM be considered to have incredible successes after 17-31, last, next to last finishes and never having made the playoffs? That is absurd.
Not to mention that the team he inherited was 9-7 the year before. Don’t mention the personnel changes to me again, most of you argued that the players that were let go: Brooks, Dunn, Hilliard, June, Galloway, Garcia were washed up anyway, and Dom selected the replacements: i.e. Clayton, Crowell, Nugent, Leftwich etc.
Dom is very responsible for taking a 9-7 team to 3-13 and then 4-12.
Incredible successes? Have you looked into the stands? Listened to sports radio? Evaluated his first 3 drafts? Evaluated his free agent signings: Clayton, Ward, Black see above.
Incredible successes? LMAO
July 25th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
joe’s are gay (both)
You know what Dini, Joe’s going to leave your juvenile stupidity up this time for a while rather than hit the spam button on you. It’s amazing how you keep bouncing around to different computers just to spew attacks on Joe every few times you post. –Joe
July 25th, 2012 at 2:41 pm
I see stupidity is running amuck on this site. Things from knowing exactly what and why we drafted or didnt draft someone, specifically dismissing an entire season just to get your own hateful agenda across to name calling like a little child… Anyways, I think Mark is safe for atleast another year. With a new coach odds are this isnt going to be a good season and the Glazers im sure are smart enough to realize this.
July 25th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Dismissing what season.
I always include the 3rd place division finish and no playoff 2010 season in my analysis of the embarrassing rahdom 3 years. Since when is 3rd place out of 4 teams something to celebrate ( with the NFL’s softest schedule of backup qb’s).
DomDom bought himself a year by pushing rah in front of the bus. DomDom is also believed to be the lowest paid GM in a while. That will provide him some rope.
As long as Dom steps aside and allows Schiano to take over, Dom may last. If Dom speaks up he will be told to shut up and make coffee.
July 25th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
a 10 win season from a team NOBODY expected to be any good is not something to be ok with? I understand it wasnt a success in the fact there was no playoffs but 10 wins is hard to come by in the NFL. But if it was no big deal why did you leave it out of your post?… you only mentioned the two losing seasons. Hmm? Oh and by the way that 10 win season would of been good enough to make the playoffs any other year except for the fact a 7-9 team actually DID make the playoffs that year. Fact is that was a very good season for what was predicted to be a crappy team… All you do is spew garbage, and twists facts around to suit your own hateful agenda… stfu already
July 25th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Wasn’t the 10 win season the year the bucs did not beat a team that was 500 until the last game because they pulled all the starters by half time. That was the hollow winning season I have ever witnesses.