Lovie Fails To Match Schiano
December 18th, 2015
“You miss me, don’t you Bucs fans? You want me, don’t you Bucs fans?”
The name of Greg Schiano still rankles Bucs fans. When Bucs fans think of failed coaches, they don’t think of Richard Williamson or Raheem Morris, but Schiano.
Schiano largely was undermined by situations out of his control, such as the MRSA and leaky, sleepy Josh Freeman going mental. Yet Schiano is the face of failure for many Bucs fans. He was jettisoned after two seasons. Most Bucs fans reacted with glee.
Schiano’s successor, Lovie Smith, was brought in with much fanfare, sort of a throwback to the cuddly teddy bear/offensive dunce/playoff loser that was Father Dungy. Fans rejoiced: “Happy days are here again,” they sang.
Well, Lovie not only is a far cry from Father Dungy, he’s not even to Schiano’s level.
With the embarrassing defensive performance tonight at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis — Lovie’s defense — to the lowly Rams, Lovie Smith suffered his 22nd loss as Bucs coach. He can finish no better than with 10 wins in two seasons.
Schiano had 11 wins in his two-year stint with the Bucs.
As always, Bucs fans, be careful what you wish for.
December 18th, 2015 at 1:00 am
It matters who your opponents are! Remember we were lucky enough to have a schedule which included the NFC East and the AFC South, as well as two games each vs. the NFC South. Except for one game against the Panthers, we are 6-7 against the remainder of that schedule, where every single opponent is playing under 0.500 ball for this year. The best record of any other opponent is 6-7. Our opponents suck, and we can’t even win even half our games against them. Hell even Schiano and Glennon went 4-4 against the non-playoff teams on their schedule in 2013. But Lovie and Koetter and Evans and VJax and ASJ and two years of Offensive draft picks, and a Top 5 rushing offense and the Savior are 6-7 against the weakest schedule in the league. The aggregate record of all our opponents not named Carolina is 70-100!
tickrdr
December 18th, 2015 at 1:04 am
Im gonna sit back and watch the excuses pour in for Great Ole Nice Guy Lovie.
December 18th, 2015 at 1:07 am
Maybe it’s just me but I liked Shiano better than Lovie. The Bucs would be contenders by now had he stayed imo.
December 18th, 2015 at 1:07 am
Next year unless we get 100% better its not gonna be much better.
Good night fellow bucs fan.
December 18th, 2015 at 1:16 am
But LovieDovie is so lovable. Who the heck cares?!!
I like the good guy with the trustworthy down home Texas accent.
Winning football and incidentally the responsibility for the HC position can be overlooked when you are a lovable and cuddly Lovie Smith
December 18th, 2015 at 1:24 am
So now we should fire Lovie and bring back Schiano!? I know your angry we lost Joseph, but please don’t be stupid…..
December 18th, 2015 at 1:25 am
More Lovie hater red meat – eh Joe? Complain it up Bucs “fans”. This is your last hurrah. Lovie is going nowhere and this team will be a legit competitor next year and every year thereafter for the foreseeable future.
December 18th, 2015 at 1:26 am
I think lovie is a great man and once a top coach but his days of coaching are over and his coaching style is out of date .
December 18th, 2015 at 1:30 am
” Lovie is going nowhere and this team will be a legit competitor next year and every year thereafter for the UNforeseeable future.”
fixed it for you.
December 18th, 2015 at 6:39 am
Schiano > lovie
December 18th, 2015 at 7:20 am
OneLove Says:
December 18th, 2015 at 1:24 am
So now we should fire Lovie and bring back Schiano!? I know your angry we lost Joseph, but please don’t be stupid…..
Bring back Schiano? No. Fire Lovie? Only an idiot wouldn’t. Players quit on their coach and season in a position to make the playoffs. The sign of a loser coach.
December 18th, 2015 at 7:37 am
If we kept Schiano and didnt hire Lovie, we dont get Jameis. He did his job and got us a QB. Now its time for him to ride off into the sunset!!
December 18th, 2015 at 7:45 am
The coaches after Gruden wrecked this team.
December 18th, 2015 at 8:17 am
He was mediocre for the most part in Chicago, he’ll be mediocre, at best, here. And I mean best case scenario, mediocre. But he coached here with Dungy, sure give him all the time he needs. The prior coach (Schiano) did a lot more with a lot less. That’s not even debatable.
December 18th, 2015 at 8:58 am
Joe. A competent coach would have the Bucs at 7-7 at worst (DC game is the reason Lovie could be fired still!) and possibly at 9-5 or so with decent head coaching that probably would have had the team win at least one of3 games vs the Lambs, Texans and Saints at home….. Lovie has been below average as a coach, you can not argue around this, Schiano would have this team at 8-6, Gruden 9-5 even Rah would have a 0.500 mark…. Lovie is BELOW average and we are stuck with him even if the Bucs go 6-10 and regress though the same thing got Schiano fired (Lovie goes 6-10 and that is a 4 game streak to close out ’15; Schiano’s streak was only 3 in ’13… but the powers that be will retain lovie)!. Those who praise him really need a mental health evaluation before you actually do something foolish to harm yourself or innocent bystanders IMHO.
Next Question: with a 10 day rest will Lovie let the Bucs lose to the Bears???? Normally I would say yes, but since going to 7-9 (if carolina is 15-0 they beat tampa in week 16, no doubt, (we all know that, the refs will make sure it happens even if McCoy Evans and L. David show up!)) would put the Bucs behind of several 6-10 teams in the draft, possibly including the Bears…. the Bucs may actually be forced to win one; but knowing Lovie he will find a way to lose! 6-10 was an improvement but when Tampa was 6-6 it felt like a good year; such a shame the team quit on Lovie JUST like they did Schiano when fatigue set in…. IMHO 6-10 sould still get Lovie fired; make him win one of the last 2 to keep his job and lets see what happens. I am not with Lurker and wishing Tampa tanks just to get to pick 10th instead of 15th….. Loser mentality, if you like that go back to the Culverhouse years son…..
December 18th, 2015 at 10:12 am
No Buccfan37 you are not alone. The problem is up until now when the gravity of the situation is noticeable to most and reality finally sinks in one can say such a thing without a pile on seal clubbing from the Schiano hate mob. Where are the billboards calling for Lovie’s termination? It’s baffling how so many fans continue to give this man a “he needs more time” excuse because why…he led the Bears to a Super Bowl ass whoopin’ a decade ago? The Glazier’s will probably give Lovie another year if for no other reason then to avoid the embarrassment of canning one coach to hand pick one that has done worse…if they do then I really hope it’s with the understanding of playoffs or you’re out.
December 18th, 2015 at 10:20 am
I looked up Assclown in the dictionary and saw a picture of Schiano aka The Little General.
It became my gravatar.
December 18th, 2015 at 10:32 am
Personally, I didn’t want Schiano fired.
I DID want Raheem fired.
I thought we should have kept Gruden. The big knock against him was failing to have back to back winning seasons…and he accomplished that his last two years here. HE should have been kept at least another year.
I also did not think Dungy should have been fired…but at least I understood that one.
As to Lovie…we have a unique situation here. After firing a coach after 3 years, and then the next one after 2 years, we simply cannot afford to fired Lovie after 2 years. It shows any potential replacement that they won’t have the time they need. No GOOD coach will take a job here as a result.
Lovie has been masterful at drafting players. Koetter has done very well with those players.
Giving Lovie a defensive draft is the way to go. Now, I realize that many won’t agree…but that is my opinion.
December 18th, 2015 at 10:34 am
I don’t believe players have quit on Lovie. I don’t think that at all. I also disagree with this article. I think it is emotional hype.
Injuries have led to inexperienced players having to get field time. Those players account for most of the penalties. It’s as simple as that. More experience players are frustrated, but that will change after we get another draft in the books.
December 18th, 2015 at 11:15 am
lol…@joe…you lost me with that one…greg regressed in the two years he was here…lovie has progressed in his two years…NUFF SAID….if greg was still here we would be 1-13 by now…greg never had a winner record…we never won a playoff game…so what makes people think he was a good coach? because he made players drive at the center with 2seconds left in the game…if you haven’t seen the improvement from last year to this year you don’t know football…in a previous thread you just said your starting to see the players we have on defense are not brightest bunch in the group, lack talent and have no heart…@pickgrin @bonzai and @onelove nailed it…GO BUCS!!!
December 18th, 2015 at 11:28 am
@ftmyersdave…how do you think greg would’ve had this team at 8-6? the man regressed each year he was here…lovie has done the complete opposite…he actually won more games than he he did last year…gruden doesn’t like rookie qb’s so we would’ve most likely went with glennon or mccown and we know what our record was with those two…raheem at least won 10games in a season…last time I checked lovie had a winning nfl coaching record 89-85…even better than jeff fisher and he’s been in the league over 20years!!!…we all know greg has a losing nfl record…I rather have lovie as a hc over sorry schiano…GO BUCS!!!!
December 18th, 2015 at 12:28 pm
great article Joe!!! I stand up and applaud you!!!!!
One of the great hindrance was having to work with and compromise with Mark Dominik!!!
December 18th, 2015 at 2:07 pm
I know Lovie will be returning next year. Sigh, I can’t get excited about that inevitability.
December 18th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
This IS the Buccaneers. Look at history. Very few years has this team not been one of the most laughed at in the league. If you get excited when OTA’s and Camp starts this is what you open yourself up for. You will someday learn to take it one game at a time and not get your bubble burst.
December 20th, 2015 at 12:21 am
Depending on how they finish this season, Lovie will have to win at least 7 games next year to match Raheem’s record.