“They Kind Of Let The Players Go”
January 23rd, 2015
More light was shed yesterday on the relaxed management style of Tampa Bay head coach Lovie Smith.
Lovie is no Greg Schiano, who regulated meal temperature, toe location, water-bottle holding and more en route to seven-win and four-win seasons.
Gerald McCoy spoke on ESPN Radio yesterday and revealed that Lovie is rather loose.
“He leaves everything that goes on in the locker room and downstairs with the players up to us,” McCoy said. “The leaders in the locker room, the captains, we have captains meetings with the head coach and then he lets us go and take care of everything. So I think it really depends on what coach is coaching the team.
“[Lovie and his staff] let you take control, and if they don’t like, you know, they’ll regulate it. But for the most part, they kind of let the players go.”
Lovie is known for being unwavering in his approach. He’s steady. The man is a rock when it comes to his way and his emotions. Typically, that’s a great thing, but not always.
Hearing McCoy yesterday, Joe’s wondering if Lovie might tighten the reins a bit — or hope the team, which votes for its own captains, picks a different breed of leadership. However you want to spin it, the Bucs’ leadership failed last year. You don’t trail 56-0 to a division rival on national television in Week 3 with a strong core of leaders on the roster.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:15 pm
“They kind of let the players go…..”
The kind of let the entire team and season go to hell in a hand basket!!!
Simple as that…..
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:16 pm
McCoy is the one who said he was a leader. no one said he was a strong leader but him, we all say he’s just one of the best players and same for lavonte david. best player doesn’t always mean leader, we have weak leadership so we need a quarterback with a strong leadership quality because the leadership we have just doesn’t cut it
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:16 pm
Lovie is known for being unwavering in his approach. He’s steady. The man is a rock when it comes to his way and his emotions. Typically, that’s a great thing, but not always.
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Great! Draft Jameis and Lovie can let let Brooks babysit.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:18 pm
I guess treating men like men instead of players you employ leads to 2-14
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:20 pm
McCoy can play.
McCoy can talk.
McCoy can lead?
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:21 pm
As to how this relates to the previous article in the “Bucs Need a Character Development Plan, I guess is Lovie would not think so. I don’t care if we are talking about Winston or the 6th and 7th round picks. ALL rookies should be guided by some kind of “plan”. Maybe Bowers, Freeman, M Williams, etc would have been more productive is there was structure such as this.
I don’t believe we need a control freak as a HC, like Shiano, but Lovie is the extreme opposite and that is maybe worse in some ways, as evidenced by the embarrassment in ATL this year.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:24 pm
Seems crazy to me letting a team of players that for the most part has only known losing and futility take care of their own business, but the Glazers retained Lovie and will have to bear the fruit of that decision (possibly good, probably not though). As fans all we can do is let it all play out and hope for a miracle next season.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:43 pm
The best player character development plan is to draft players who don’t need character development….there are plenty of choices….those that say “it doesn’t matter, pick the more NFL ready” don’t understand the meaning of “NFL ready”….it means ready for the NFL on & off the field…
That being said…..I agree with Couch Fan that “IF” Winston can be developed….he may be the better choice….but like anything else….the “IF” is undetermined as yet.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:51 pm
Why do we Lovie ?
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:52 pm
A team is only as good as its players. You can have the very best leadership in place, but you need teammates that are receptive to it and that have the skills to be successful.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:52 pm
@Tampabaybucfan
Well said.
January 23rd, 2015 at 1:57 pm
Yeah takeover control to an even wosre record and product on the field. Greg is probably twice the coach Lovie is and that is just sad all around, what a mess
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:10 pm
Ironically, when we make the playoffs next year, you’ll al be eating your words.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:15 pm
We were doing so great before Lovie came and ruined everything.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:31 pm
One size does not fit all. any philosophy or approach Lovie uses will bring criticism from the haters out here who despise him.
Love treats men like men. If Love finds you are unable to work in that frown up type of environment, then he gets rid of you. Bye bye Mike Williams.
When he was asked how he would talk about a certain situation to a player and how to avoid Lovie stated simply, “I qouldn’t these are grown men. They should already know.”
Having worked in a Sciano and Lovie environment personally, I can tell you I was much more productive in the Lovie environment than the Schiano environment.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:32 pm
Tampabaybucfan
In a perfect world you would be correct. However it’s not a perfect world and organizations need to be able to handle all types of personalities while maximizing performance. That’s what good organizations do.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:33 pm
No matter where you work or what you do in life, some people need to be motivated, pushed, and educated further. And then there are people that need very little help. That is just the way it is. Some people excell to limits they never knew they could reach with someone teaching and motiviting them. That is what this team needs to figure out. Some of our motivated players are obvious. But some may need extra motivation from coaches…not other players. In addition, some players just are not good enough to play in this league…lol. It annoys me when I see people with great talent and no drive continue a career. And it also sadeness me when I see great character people with amazing drive but no real talent lose out. This team has some very big decisions to make this season and the #1 pick is just a small part of it.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:35 pm
Would really love to see an article from Joe asking Mankins to compare the two coaching staffs and get his opinion.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:43 pm
1st Rd Jameis Winston (FSU) QB
2nd Rd Cameron Erving (FSU) LT
3rd Rd Josue Matias (FSU) OG or John Miller (Louisville) OG
4th Rd Ramik Wilson (Georgia) MLB
5th Rd Lyden Trail (Norfolk State) DE
5th Rd Eric Rowe (Utah) CB
6th Rd Anthony Jefferson (UCLA) SS
7th Rd David Andrews (Georgia) C or Jake Smith (Louisville) C
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:57 pm
i don’t know how we resolve it, but this team has never recovered from the loss of the locker room leadership (the defensive pillars, plus alstott and perhaps others) that made it so steady in the late 90s even into the gruden firing. losing gruden and brooks in particular after already waving goodbye to lynch and sapp. that left ronde barber to babysit a 19 year old rookie QB “leader” and a head coach who was younger than him. that weak leadership, in turn, was all that GMC has seen since entering the league. then along comes schiano who seemed to supress the idea of player-leaders even as he was espousing it. i guess what i’m saying is that the bucs locker room is kind of like the Lost Boys right now, nobody can seem to figure out and implement whatever it is that the grown-ups strong veteran-led locker rooms like New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, or Green Bay are doing to prevent players from losing their way or giving less than their best.
January 23rd, 2015 at 2:58 pm
Jason Licht should be over seeing Lovie Smith and make corrections.
As far as the players, some people need to be forced to act a certain way.
January 23rd, 2015 at 3:01 pm
I think to much is being made of this “leadership” thing. Get a good QB and an offensive line and any kind of leadership will work.
January 23rd, 2015 at 3:03 pm
The truth of the matter is that those who are the first to ask the rest of us to ignore or overlook character when drafting a player will be the ones who will worry the most about that decision going forward…..the rest of us will be prepared.
I can live with either decision or even a trade of the pick…..until it becomes obvious that it was the wrong decision….because, it will take time in any case to be certain.
It is possible that all of the choices are good ones….that’s what I hope…then we can’t lose!!!
January 23rd, 2015 at 3:30 pm
If the coach let’s the team be managed by his captains on the field does he going with the quiet/meek Mariota or the outgoing Winston. I’m taking Winston in that case.
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:45 pm
So let me get this right, we all agree that the Bucs offense was terrible and sabotaged the entire season, right?
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:38 pm
Lovie is working on changing the culture in that locker room. Lets face it since Gruden was fired and Raheem took over this team has been void of any accountability. Sure Ronde was there to lead by examplebut thats not the same as Brooks and Sapp or Dungy and Gruden making every man in that room accountable for what their actions and in Sapp and Gruden that meant sn @ss whooping if you werent committed and if that wasnt enough then you were gone. Raheem at such a young age didnt appear to hold players to that standard or at least not until his firing was already unavoidable. Then came Schiano who wasnt really so much about accountability but more like it was his way or no way. Plus the jerk couldnt coach a lick come gameday so why would players take anything that screaming bafoon said seriously. So now we have Lovie who comes in with really no players who are selfless leaders besides maybe a handful. So really Lovie lets his players police yet there are no players that can police. See the issue? Maybe VJax and Hawk can to an extent but ironically those are two players fans seem to want to trade. When you drop 56-0 though then I can see pretty clearly that thats not adequate. It has to be organic. People in everyday life are either leaders or theyre not. Mccoy may be our best player but that dosent mean he is a leader type. Sorry for rambling thats just my take regarding Lovie and his approach to leading our locker room. It will work itself out in due time assuming Lovie gets enough time to see his vision through. If he dosent get at least 7 wins in 2015 im sure hell be wishing he was a lil more hands on when hes unemployed.
January 23rd, 2015 at 7:15 pm
Gotta disagree with you on this joe. Week one was a cluster fokc and nobody on the team was prepared. Nobody….having no OC to start the season that you had in preseason week two would be prepared. But when you look at how the team continued to play hard every single game???? The team captains didnt let this team down the coaching did. Lovie Tanked the season from week 4 on but in a very under the radar way.For whatever reason many fans wont admit it but Lovie tanked. That is why although I was disapointed….I was not angry at the end of the season. Nkw if we get those same results next year it will be time for his head but in my opinion our captains for the most part did the best they could under the circumstances
January 23rd, 2015 at 8:58 pm
A unwavering coach coming off a 2-14 season has got to change things up. If he doesn’t change he will be back in his basement waiting to trick another team into paying him millions
January 24th, 2015 at 7:18 am
Captains for next year. Verner, McDonald, Mankins, Jackson, and ST, whoever the best vet we bring in.
January 24th, 2015 at 7:20 am
Make McCoy earn his C on his chest. Be yourself Gerald, you don’t have to be Warren.
January 24th, 2015 at 12:15 pm
I could care less what Lovie Dovie does. He STINKS! Get rid of his sorry ass.