“Commanding Respect By Giving Respect”
January 2nd, 2014
Tony Dungy likes Lovie Smith’s philosophy. Lovie is no Greg Schiano.
There was quite a contrast across the Tampa Bay sports market over the past couple of years.
In St. Pete sat Rays skipper Joe Maddon, a leader who believes in clubhouse disc jockeys, lucky talking birds on his shoulder on game days and wacky dress-up themes during road trips, among other freedoms. And he’s just fine with his players sounding off on Twitter about bad attendance or whatever else is on their minds.
There there was Greg Schiano.
The leader of the New Schiano Order was the anti-Maddon. Fun was about “busting your tail.” Discipline was everything, yet his 2013 Bucs were sloppy on the field?
Maddon has been wildly successful. Schiano was given a fast pink slip.
Joe remembers an excellent, lengthy interview Maddon did in on WHFS-FM 98.7 in 2012. Maddon dove deep into his philosophy about how it’s impossible to sustain success as a professional leader of young men as a whip-cracker, disciplinarian.
(Side note: How did Maddon react publicly after meeting eventual rookie of the year Wil Myers for the time? Maddon talked about how he told Myers that he needed to enhance his education and read a book. Maddon assigned him one to read and shared his shock that Myers hadn’t done much reading since high school.)
Today, Father Dungy said on the WDAE-AM 620 airwaves that he’s most excited by Lovie Smith bringing to the Bucs that same style of relationship leadership. “Commanding respect by giving respect” is how Dungy described it.
Everything Joe’s hearing about Lovie from great sources is that he knows how to keep a team focused and happy. That doesn’t mean he can build an offense, but it lets you know he’s an excellent leader.
You can hear Father Dungy’s entire interview on the Ron and Ian show below.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:22 pm
I’m so excited the Bucs landed Lovie Smith. For the first time in five years, we have a legit NFL head coach with experience. I’m hoping for the best, of course, but it’s awesome to land the first target and not have to scramble late in the game like last time.
It’s also a relief the Bucs landed Lovie when you glance at the other teams who are looking to hire a coach and see the list of candidates; the coaches left on the market with the most potential appear to be potential first time head coaches, and we know the Glazers were not going back down that road with this new hire, not after Raheem and Schiano.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:22 pm
I’m good with everything about this situation…as long as the questions about offense are answered.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:27 pm
Lovie is no Greg Shiano….and he is no Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden. But this was done ass backwards. We have no GM and having a coach already in place does nothing to make that any easier. That is like hiring you as a corporate manager and telling you that you can do what you want as long as you don’t mess with the people that work for you. In this case, that is the coaches decisions or the Glazers decision…..sounds like being between a rock and a hard place.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Dungy is and always will be a class act! Great guy to say the least. I did enjoy him saying he was there to help just not on an official level. Just means that Lovie will get some ear for the Father
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:33 pm
You don’t need a GM first unless your GM is gonna be the primary guy. There’s plenty of precedence in the NFL for the head coach being the primary decision maker and the GM being hired based on their ability to work well with the head coach. That was the case with Gruden, Belichick, Shanahan and quite a few others. It’s not a big deal.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:36 pm
I agree with both flyboy & mark. I think a lot about our offensive direction will be decided at the start of free agency or the draft. If we are getting a veteran QB to compete with Glennon that makes me very nervous moving forward. We need a franchise QB desperately and I think pretty much all of the respected NFL talent guru’s agree he’s not one.
I also like the Lovie hiring but I wanted a top flight President hired first then a GM then a coach. Everyone needs to be on the same page moving forward for this to truly work. I really hope it’s not Angelo. He couldn’t build an offensive line or a wr core to save his life in Chicago. Hopefully it’s someone who has had success with a an organization that has drafted well over the last 5-7 years.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Mark, not knowing the rest of the situation it is impossible to that conclusion. We did not know how long this has been in the works or who else is involved that has not been announced at this time.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Not worried about the “no GM” situation….I am sure that is not going to be a problem because Lovie Smith is such a known commodity. It could have been a problem if someone new to head coaching had been hired. The GM & HC work together but have totally separate functions on an NFL team.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:41 pm
One of the reasons I love the hire is it a validation of sorts for Coach Dungy.
A great guy and coach IMO, who got a raw deal at the end.
If we got a Dungy clone I say hooooooooooooooraaaaaaaaaaaay!
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:44 pm
How do we know they aren’t going hire the guy from KC and cant because they are still in the playoffs?
Lets see who the GM ends up being before we jump to conclusions.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:49 pm
I’m pretty sure that whoever the GM is that comes in here will be a professional who is able to work with people even if he didn’t hire them. It seems like people assume that if the GM didn’t come first then he can’t have a good working relationship with the coach. Stuff like that happens all the time in the professional world. They’ll be fine.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:53 pm
You have to have a football guy and a number/organizational guy and the model that Tampa is building is exactly what is required!
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:31 pm
Umm, unless my definition of general manager is incorrect, a general manager ranks above the head coach. Either they will look for a GM that would’ve selected Lovie anyway or, the GM will actually be contract deal-maker and capologist.
If neither, they are going to have the same situation as Rah and Dominik.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Why would it make any difference whether the GM gets hired first?? It’s not they were going to say no to Lovie or they wouldn’t have been getting hired. I think Eric is right, it could be someone who is involved in the playoffs. At any rate, the Glazers are making the right moves so I trust this will work out. I said earlier in the year when everyone was spewing all the hate about Schiano that these things have a way of working themselves out and they do. No sense in ruining your day over it…it’ll be fine.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:34 pm
Love it! Go BUCS.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:35 pm
when the whole lovefest blows over there are still X’s and O’s to work out. our scheme and personnel are flawed on both sides of the ball and our division might be the most loaded in football (minus NFC west) when healthy. Lovie will have to do much more than inspire, he will need to address weaknesses that he failed to in his last job and has to find a way to get ahead of 3 teams that look set to be playoff-worthy for the next 5+ years.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:43 pm
You don’t know our scheme or what it’s final personnel will end up being yet, so what on earth are you talking about? lol
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:44 pm
It’s funny watching everybody on here….. You wanted a new coach with NFL experience and you got 1……. Now it’s cant believe no GM 1st? It’s all a mess! Are you never happy in life? Maybe the wife doesn’t give you any? Make up your minds please!
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:45 pm
It’s pretty hilarious
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:46 pm
Oh did I forget?.?.?.? Lovie isn’t a good coach? He only had multiple winning seasons, but he sucks! Yeah our fans suck!
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:47 pm
I expect that The Bucs will have a presser introducing Lovie and whoever the new GM at the same time. Lovie already had this gig before that Saints game was over.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:47 pm
The thing about lo ie is fhat he isnt a micro manager. He lets his OC and DC do their jobs. He will give his input like all HCs but not the way schiano controled everything. Lovie is going to be the leader of this team not a coordinator. He doesnt have his own schemes that he will force onto his coaches, he lets his assistants do what they were hired to do. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt but at least he has trust in his people.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:50 pm
Don’t say that out load ArloPear! You might get stabbed! Cause you didn’t know Lovie sucked!
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:51 pm
He will be the DC
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:55 pm
I hate to go of topic but all I keep hearing about is offfense, offense, offense like we have to have Peyton Manning to win our division or a superbowl. Let’s do the math shall we:
Buccaneers : 1 Superbowl, the first in our division. the quarterback and the offense was average. Defense was legendary.
Saints: 1 Superbowl with Drew Brees and high powered offense we so desperately need to compete in the the NFC South. Interestingly enough their defense was pretty good that year as well even if they did play dirty.
Falcons: 0 Superbowls with With Matt Ryan and high powered offense we so desperately need to compete in the the NFC South. Before that Mike Vick.
Panthers: 0 Superbowls (unless they win this year) with Supa-Man Cam Newtown and high powered offense we so desperately need to compete in the the NFC South. Oops i meant slightly above average offense with a monster defense. Before that Carlson Palmer
Lovie will be a good coach for this team and since people like to keep bringing up Dungy last I checked he won a superbowl with his 2nd team. So give it a rest.
back to topic, not only will he get respect from his players but he will get it from around the league, I am very excited about this hire!
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:59 pm
Buc_The_World stop using logic and common sense. That crap is not welcome here.
January 2nd, 2014 at 3:13 pm
The Panthers fired their GM and hired a new one.
So, they have a GM who did not hire their head coach, and it seems to be working out just fine.
I fail to see what difference it makes, it only matters if the GM and Coach know what their doing and work well together – not which one was hired first.
How did that Dom hiring Schiano work out for us?
January 2nd, 2014 at 3:24 pm
Lovie was not my first choice but I am good with the selection,. Try finding anything or anyone with a negative word about lovie. Can’t find one. I think he will be good and I think the Bucs will succeed. Very interested to see what happens with our players, contracts, FA signings, and oh yes, The Draft. Welcome Coach Smith.
January 2nd, 2014 at 3:32 pm
The way the nfl works now you must have some sot of offense to compete. You dont need Peyton Manning per say but the way our offense led by captain checkdown performed, it will take alot of work to just be average on offense let alone good.
January 2nd, 2014 at 3:40 pm
I am however impressed at how Glennon performed given the circumstances. If he works as hard as many say he does then give the kid a shot.
January 2nd, 2014 at 6:53 pm
For the life of me I can’t understand how anyone could be unhappy with hiring Lovie Smith. You want experience – check. You want someone well liked and respected with players, media and executives – check. You want someone who has consistently fielded a good, winning team – check. You want someone who was here doing our glory years and played a huge part in our success – check.
I have a news flash for those of you that say he only got to the playoffs 3 out of 9 seasons – it’s hard to get to the playoffs in the NFL. He’s never won less than 7 games except for his first season. He won 10 his last year and didn’t get to the playoffs. I’ll take my chances with 10 wins every year. More impressively, he did so without a QB, even made it to the Super Bowl without one.
All the ones crying can’t give a better alternative. Pretty sure Bellicheck isn’t available. I hear a lot of Jay Gruden, and he may very well end up being a great coach. But how do you know? After the last two coaches, you really want to go that route again? Aside from watching him on Hard Knocks and knowing he’s Gruden’s brother (whom most of you conveniently forget or fail to mention that you wanted to be fired as well), what exactly do you know about him. How often do you DVR Bengals games? What kind of offense do they run? You don’t know anything about him, so please stop as if you spent Christmas at his house scouring over game film. Same applies for Mike Zimmer or any other unexperienced head coach.
January 2nd, 2014 at 7:03 pm
Does anyone think Ron Rivera is a great offensive mind? His offense looks okay to me. Better yet, how about John Fox and Pete Carroll? Bill Bellicheck? All defensive guys, all in the playoffs. All with good chances to win it all. This “Lovie can’t have a good offense” nonsense is ridiculous. If we have a good QB and Tedford is the real deal, his offense will be just fine.
It’s amazing to me that with the history of this team, so many of you want to disregard defense. All the top teams minus Denver have great defenses, so don’t say defense doesn’t win championships. Let’s do this – you bet on New Orleans, Green Bay, and Philadelphia and I’ll bet on SF, Seattle, and Carolina. We’ll see who wins. The best 3 players on the team are on defense. Best OLB in the game, best 3 technique in the game, (when healthy) best CB in the game. Very good safety tandem as well. Imagine when they get coached up. We are more talented than the Bears were on defense, and look how great they were. We don’t have to score 40 points a game to win a championship. In fact, the teams that do need to score that many points are the teams that will get their arses beat in January.
January 2nd, 2014 at 7:38 pm
Well Gruden had the team to the post season 3 times in 7 years and it wasn’t good enough to retain a job in Tampa, so 3 post season visits in 9 years for Lovie isn’t going to be good enough for team Glazer and the majority of Bucs fans.
January 2nd, 2014 at 8:06 pm
Well that’s just stupid. It was stupid to fire Gruden and it was stupid for Chicago to fire Lovie.
January 2nd, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Maybe so, but the precedence in Tampa is 3 playoff appearances in 7 years (including 1 SB) isn’t good enough, and a new HC has two seasons to produce a winning record regardless of the situation. Both of those scenarios are what seem stupid to me, but it’s the Glazer’s team not mine.