Lovie’s Seat Still Hot
October 19th, 2015
The Bucs entered the bye week victorious. Additionally, the Bucs entered the bye week with a home win, which has become about as rare in these parts as a snowplow.
The win quieted the mob screaming for Lovie Smith’s head on a platter. For the time being, Lovie (4-17, 1-10 at home) has room to breathe.
But no! It seems the “Custodian of Canton,” eye-RAH! Kaufman of The Tampa Tribune thinks differently. The long-time Bucs scribe believes not only is Lovie still on the hot seat, but that Team Glazer is eyeing the final month of the season to decide if Lovie returns for a third year leading the Bucs. That’s what Kaufman suggested in a recent TBO.com podcast with Olivia Stacey.
“Ultimately, Olivia, ultimately, when the season ends, much of the discussion from management is going to center on the defense and whether they have improved markedly during the season because that is Lovie Smith’s forte,” Kaufman said. “He kind of pushed Leslie Frazier off to the side. This is his unit. These are his guys: Jennings, Melton, Conte. These are Smith’s guys from Chicago. They know the scheme. Yet they are giving up gobs of yards. …
Well, look, Olivia, when you are 4-17, people are looking at you. Lovie Smith understands that. He can say they have improved here; they have improved there. But ultimately, look, he’s not naive. It has to show up on the scoreboard and the standings.
“Yeah, it was a big win, but who did you beat? You beat the Jaguars, at home. The short answer is, he is on the hot seat going forward. He is not going to get fired in the middle of the 2015 season. Not going to happen. The Glazers have never done it; didn’t do it with Schiano who was 0-8. They stuck with Schiano. They will stick with Lovie Smith. I think, maybe, December will tell the tale. They have to finish strong with some momentum built towards 2016. That is what ownership kind of looks at. Which way is the arrow going? That doomed Raheem Morris. Yeah, he is on the hot seat, but not in terms of being replaced [midseason].”
Yes, the win over the Jags was huge, and Joe firmly believes that if Lovie can somehow collect six wins, then he is a cinch to return in 2016.
But lets be real: The Jags, a true NFL bottom feeder, racked up tons of points and yards on Lovie defense. And please tell Joe where you see four sure wins coming through the remainder of the schedule?
October 19th, 2015 at 8:06 am
Typical local hack media nonsense.
Not even warm.
October 19th, 2015 at 8:29 am
We could win the two home games in December against the Saints & Bears….and that would save Lovie…..but it’s certainly no lock.
We really need to win Sunday…
October 19th, 2015 at 8:30 am
This article is dead on, Some of the sheep (lovie loyalist) think that lovie just proved himself against the Jags. Newsflash, going toe to toe and barely coming out on top against one of the worst roster’s in the nfl is not a statement game!!!
Lets look at the last 6 games!!!
@Colts Nov 26
Falcons Dec 6
Saints Dec 13
@Rams Dec 17
Bears Dec 27
@Panthers Jan 3
Jan 4th Lovie is shopping for a new basement!!!
October 19th, 2015 at 8:34 am
Not sure 6 wins by itself is enough, to your point Joe, the arrow has to be pointing in the right direction. I rewatched the Jags game yesterday, and that win was a total team effort. The return game was hugely responsible and the two turnovers the defense provided were also huge. All of those lead to poings and all three phases of the game actually functioned well, except pass defense. Jennings was so bad, it is truely scary. Maybe as the season goes on and the Oline continues to gell, Koeter gets more experience dealing with his players, Jameis continues to grow, maybe the defense will continue to get better and before you know it, we have a decent team again. Ok, waking up now!!!!
October 19th, 2015 at 8:38 am
From a business standpoint the Glazers have to be looking at incompetent Lovie Smith’s body of work since he and his little lapdog GM have been here in Tampa and conclude that they can easily upgrade HC/GM.
When your high water mark is beating the awful Jaguars at home to snap a 10 game home losing streak you are automatically looking to upgrade this football team from a HC/GM perspective. It’s just business.
October 19th, 2015 at 8:45 am
The irony in all this is that if Lovie’s seat is toasty (as I believe it rightfully should be given the results thus far) it’s because he wanted (and got) so much control over the product we’re seeing on the field. He seems like a genuinely good dude who bit off way more than he can chew by taking over so much of the football operations. It seems like merely being the HC is a big enough challenge for him. Good luck to you coach Smith, I think you’re going to need a lot of it to win enough games to save your HC job for next year.
October 19th, 2015 at 8:47 am
Yawn how about an atricle about Kwon or Ali or even another Jameis lovie is going to be here next year.
October 19th, 2015 at 8:51 am
Media nonsense, my rear.
October 19th, 2015 at 8:54 am
Lovie should be fired regardless of this season’s outcome, he’s proven time and again that’s he’s incapable of talent evaluation or any kind of high level team administration, which as the HC is what your primary responsibilities are. Personally I believe Licht is a fine GM, it’s Lovie that is the issue. And lets have none of this they’ll be paying three head coaches, the Glazer’s have $225 million reasons they can fire him and not feel any financial pinch. Bottom line, Lovie is a failure as a head coach.
October 19th, 2015 at 8:58 am
Go read today’s Washington Post. The Redskins are a dumpster fire, Cousins is getting blasted in the papers, and Jay Gruden’s seat is blazing.
This is the kind of game that Lovie needs to win.
October 19th, 2015 at 9:03 am
When it takes the head coach over 16 games to start making defensive adjustments, then your job is on the “hotseat”!!!!
October 19th, 2015 at 9:17 am
I agree with Eric above. Lovie’s seat isn’t even warm. When I read statements like this by Ira Kauffman, who is a very good journalist IMO, it’s as if they’re writing to the lowest common denominator. A rookie QB, a rookie MLB, and two rookies on the OL is going to give Lovie another year. The Bucs are building a good team and it’s too bad some of you can’t see that.
Also, the Bucs aren’t in as bad a shape as some of you Chicken Little’s think they are. The Bucs are going in the right direction compared to the Lions, Bears, Browns, Ravens, Jaguars, Chiefs, Redskins, Saints, 49ers, Texans, and Eagles. That’s nearly half the league. You could probably throw the Titans in there after yesterday’s performance too.
The Bucs are 1-1 in the division and the other night Atlanta looked very considering they lost to a team we already beat. Jonathan Banks coming back will only improve the secondary. Demar Dotson coming back will only improve the offensive line and ASJ coming back will give Jameis another target.
October 19th, 2015 at 9:19 am
A few days ago, PewterReport suggested that if the Bucs lose to the Jags, Lovie Smith should be fired immediately (Joe’s did not join that mob). Well, he didn’t lose and he’s not been fired! I don’t think many people believed that the Glazers would take this action mid-season regardless. It’s bye week and not a lot of Buc news and Ira Kaufman is now acting as if he is spokesperson for the Glazers. Believe what you will.
Now that I’ve had some time to think about this and take a look at the alternatives and the cost of firing Lovie, I seriously doubt that it will happen even at year’s end. Consider the realistic alternatives.
The NFL musical chairs have no one in-waiting that is likely to have any more success than Lovie at this time. Coaches with winning records have jobs and we just went the recycling route with Lovie. There is talk of the Saints being willing to trade Sean Payton for picks and Miami is rumored to be interested. Payton has his hands full with the Saints now and even though we got a Super Bowl from the John Gruden/Raiders trade, it took us a long time to recover from the loss of those picks. And Gruden inherited the best defense in the NFL then – not nearly the same circumstances today. Remember Lovie came to us off of a 10 win season. I need not explain Einstein’s definition for insanity.
So let’s look at the college HCs that might work. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher is the fifth highest-paid college football coach in the country, slated to make $5,150,000 for the 2015 season, and could make as much as $6.6 million with bonuses. Fisher agreed to a new 8-year extension in December of 2014. Fisher has had huge success with Jameis Winston, but would require a lengthy contract buyout and a salary in the 8mil/yr range to even consider moving.
Alabama’s Nick Saban and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh sit atop the list at the $7 million mark followed by Ohio State’s Urban Meyer ($5.8 million) and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops (5.4 million). Bob Stoops is on the hot seat in Oklahoma and doesn’t look ready for prime time. We went the unconventional route with Greg Schiano, who some would describe as difficult to deal with. Saban or Harbaugh would add another whole degree of difficulty to that equation, not that either of them would consider the Bucs any way.
Urban Meyer has won everywhere he’s been, but on April 13, 2015, Ohio State announced that Urban Meyer, 50, had signed a contract extension through the 2020 season. It will pay him $5.8 million in 2015 and average at least $6.5 million per year. Can Urban Meyer handle the pressure of losing in the NFL or will he wilt as he did when things got tough at Florida? Whether he could or not, his recent contract will be a huge obstacle to overcome to get him to leave.
Highly touted Stanford coach David Shaw and Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin have expressed no desire to coach in the NFL. Both are enjoying winning seasons and appear quite content to remain in the college ranks. Nothing about either of their resumes says they might be successful in a turning a losing team around. Both inherited teams with winning records, however Sumlin did take A&M from a 7-6 record to an 11-2 record in his first year.
Schiano signed a 5 year 15mil contract in 2012 and has another 3.2mil that is guaranteed in 2016. Lovie signed a 4 year 5mil/yr guaranteed contract with a 5th year option that would at minimum, pay him thru 2017. A qualified new HC will probably get a guaranteed 5 year contract that will cost 7-8mil/yr minimum. This can be mitigated if Schiano goes to Maryland or Lovie gets another coaching job. But, I wouldn’t count on it. Why not go to ESPN (non-coaching job) like Gruden and Schiano and get paid twice!
While buying out lengthy college contracts, continuing to pay multiple remaining guaranteed HC contracts, and letting what is surely to be costly new contracts for a new coach and staff, may seem like a drop in the bucket for billionaires to assume, it is not exactly the formula for getting to be one or remaining on the Forbes list. And there is no guarantee that it gets any better – hasn’t yet!
If anybody has a better alternative, let’s hear it. I’m betting that we win another couple of games here and there and Lovie gets another year! If Winston continues to progress and play as he did against the Jags, Lovie is likely to complete the 5 year term of his contract. Don’t underestimate the path of least resistance even for billionaires.
Every NFL coach is on the hot seat because they’re expected to win – not just win more games than you lose, but win championships. Eventually, Marvin Lewis/Bengals will have to win in the playoffs or he will be fired. Remember Lovie Smith came to the Bucs a year after a 10-6 record. Is Lovie on the hot seat? Yes! Is he going to be fired this year? No! Keep your eye on Jameis Winston. As Winston goes, so goes Lovie Smith!
October 19th, 2015 at 9:39 am
We just can’t keep firing guys, thus pressing the reset button. Lovie Smith is no worse than an average coach. Dirk Koetter is a good OC. We need some stability over a period of time. We’ve already tried the up-and-coming-coach (Raheem) and the college-coach-with-no-NFL-experience (Greg Schiano). The latter guy we ran out of town with aggression.
Gotta have great players, especially at QB. When the Lightning had consecutive years with the first overall pick, then the second overall pick, they came away with Stamkos and Hedman. The Bucs have to match that. Guys like Mike Tomlin can look like great coaches when you have QB.
October 19th, 2015 at 10:01 am
Macabee
I appreciate your time & effort.
Even though I disagree with you on a few points….
Nevertheless, It was an excellent-well-thought-out presentation
October 19th, 2015 at 10:06 am
Jim Harbaugh would be a great hire
October 19th, 2015 at 10:06 am
What Macabee said.
October 19th, 2015 at 10:28 am
Macabee … Excellent analysis, and well-said. And you’re absolutely correct. Unless the Bucs have a true meltdown and the players themselves quit on Lovie (not likely), he’ll still our HC next year. Not only because of the dollars involved, but because coaching-carousels never work.
Agree also with your statement ‘As Winston goes, so goes Lovie Smith’. Caveat: after this year … Jameis has a ‘mulligan’ in his rookie year, as most rookie QBs do. If you look at HCs with a winning track record (Dungy, Belicheck, Payton, etc) they’ve all had excellent QBs to run their offense. Kind of a field-general so to speak. Jameis can be that QB for the Bucs, but has some growing to do first.
October 19th, 2015 at 10:33 am
This is why I’m tiring of visiting sports news websites. Nothing against Joe at all. He’s mostly just quoting others. But the overall media cares more about drama than facts.
Maybe its because we, as fans, gravitate toward the drama and the media is just doing what it has to in order to survive. I’m just getting tired of it. The older I get, the more bottom line news I want.
Just state the facts as news…state the rest as opinion. That’s good enough for me. These days though…the media quotes “unnamed sources” or such in order to add credence to their claims…and most of the claims are lies or guesses. And because no one ever calls them on it, they get away with it.
I would love to see a website that investigates the truth of claims made by Bucs media
October 19th, 2015 at 10:43 am
The Redskins are looking at the Bucs coming in as a must win game, an easy game on their schedule.
October 19th, 2015 at 10:45 am
I am not a Lovie guy, haven’t been from the beginning. I desperatly want to be proven wrong, so with that in mind, I get to be a little bit positive this week. You have to think at some point there is a turning point when a horrible team turns a corner. I think this weeks game against the skins has potential to be just that. If we can show up again, two games in a row and play fairly mistake free like we did against the Jags (excluding the corners obviously) and end up 3-3, that would be huge. Some like Bonzi point out that we have only beat garbage teams, and he is absolutely correct. But isn’t that better than losing to the garbage teams like last few years? That points to the possiblity that we might be crawling up from the bottom!
October 19th, 2015 at 11:12 am
If we do change coaches I would like, Gruden which obviously won’t happen. My first choice would be Harbaugh, Jimbo Fisher, Urban Myers. But knowing the Glazers maybe It’ll be Frazier.
October 19th, 2015 at 11:16 am
I love how some fans think Lovie is safe no matter what. No coach is bulletproof especially if you win as little as loser lover does
October 19th, 2015 at 11:41 am
Why do people think paying off multiple contracts is a deal breaker, it’s not, 2114 shared payout was $225 million per team, paying off Morris, Schiano and Lovie they still have $200 million left of that, that doesn’t even count 2015’s payout which should be even more, money is no issue in the NFL, winning is, Lovie is not a winner, he’s a place holder until someone better comes along. Make Shaw or Sumlin the right offer and they’ll sign.
October 19th, 2015 at 11:50 am
I am with flmike. Even if we end up 10-6, FIRE Lovie. We cannot be truly successful with him, any actual success this year will be due to Jameis, Oline picks by Licht, and existing talent on Defense, LVD and GMC, or Kwon.
October 19th, 2015 at 12:35 pm
I hope at the end of the season the Glazers fire Lovie so we don’t have to endure another year of suffering.
October 19th, 2015 at 1:08 pm
LUVMYBUCS Says:
October 19th, 2015 at 10:01 am
“Macabee
I appreciate your time & effort.”
Time and effort that was a damn book right there. That sucker should’ve had pages. lol
I enjoyed the effort too Macabee. I sometimes drag on with my posts too from time to time. It’s just that I type so fast and rarely look up to see how much I’ve typed.
Right now I’m on the fence about Lovie. On one hand his personnel moves have been so bad that they cost the Glazers much more money than Schiano, Rah and Lovie’s contracts combined. They would save money by getting rid of him and his dumb FA acquisitions every year.
On the other hand we can’t keep firing coaches every 2 years in the hope that the Glazers hire the right one. That goes for you to Realist. You’d love for that to happen so you can continue to complain about the next coach as well. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do that either.
So I’m on the fence right now and rooting for Lovie to succeed. The ball is i his court.
October 19th, 2015 at 2:13 pm
Lovie’s seat isn’t even warm? 4-17 overall, 1-10 at home, 3 blowout losses in less than 2 seasons, horrible FA pickups and ill-advised trades, uber-conservative attitude that has without a doubt cost us points and wins, stubbornness to play the better player over “his guys” and we have a whole 3 quarters of a season left to play with a brutal November schedule where Lovie could possible not win another game.
And his seat isn’t even warm?
I don’t know what you guys are smoking, but I want some.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:00 pm
If the Glazer family’s mandate was to turn back the clock to the Dungy era by hiring Lovie, then I’m confused why they are spending so many resources on the offensive side of the ball.
Lovie knows how to win with defense and a game manager, he has no idea how to build an offense or develop a franchise quarterback. It just doesn’t make any sense, and that’s why the rebuilding isn’t working.
If they wanted someone to build an offense, they should have hired an offensive coach.
October 19th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Lol.
Please . . . Dont shame your ancestors
Dont embarrass your family!
Dont humiliate your Kids!
You’d have to be an idiot, to think Lovie could be fired this year
He’ll be here next year
And the year after
October 19th, 2015 at 4:14 pm
Not Tiny Tim
Its the svelte, Powerful, all knowing Capt Tim!!
Tiny Tim Says:
October 19th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Lol.
Please . . . Dont shame your ancestors
Dont embarrass your family!
Dont humiliate your Kids!
You’d have to be an idiot, to think Lovie could be fired this year
He’ll be here next year
And the year after
October 19th, 2015 at 9:12 pm
Tiny- this is the silly logic I’m talking about. He’s not bullet proof. Lose out he’s gone, get blown out multiple times again and continue on with excessive amounts of penaltiea and he’s gone.
Dude has done zero here for such confidence from the fans
October 19th, 2015 at 11:01 pm
Lovie is not on the hot seat and his job is not in jeopardy. It take time to build a team and the Bucs are being built pretty fast under Lovie’s leadership. The Bucs do not have the same talent that the 49er’s had when Harbaugh took over the team. Any talent the Bucs have has improved or is being developed by Lovie. RELAX
October 20th, 2015 at 2:59 pm
DallasBuc
“From a business standpoint, The Glazers”
Lmfao!!!
As if some simpleton (um, like you), would have a CLUE about haw Billionaires like the Glazers do business!!!
LMFAO!!!!