Koetter Determined To Dodge Spotlight
January 7th, 2016
Fans are aching for information on the future of offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. Folks, there’s a reason you’ve heard nothing from Koetter or his camp.
Joe has a pipeline to Koetter, and his camp has been determined for many days to not thrust Koetter’s opportunities into the spotlight. It’s just the way Koetter wants to do things.
Joe respects the class.
This morning, Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com and SiriusXM NFL Radio, is Tweeting that the Eagles plan two make an official request to interview Koetter to the Bucs, a courtesy move between teams. Per Marvez, the Dolphins and 49ers already have.
Koetter is in demand, and there’s certainly interest in him at One Buc Palace.
Look for things to move very quickly on Koetter. You’re just not going to get the details you’re seeking.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:47 am
The Rooney rule in this situation is mockery. Perhaps it’s time to move on from it.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:47 am
The only question is who he is going to bring in as a defensive coordinator for the Bucs.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:48 am
Really do not need to know the details! Just happy to know that things are in motion!!!! Just know that the Glazers are not just throwing darts at the dart board! know that there is front office help and a lot of moving parts!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!
January 7th, 2016 at 10:52 am
Bet they interview Leslie Frazier to suffice the Rooney rule. He’s already in the building. Could interview both him and Koetter before lunch today.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:57 am
I like the possibility that Dirk could be the next head coach in Tampa Bay. It has already been suggested that Mike Smith would be a good fit for DC. I think this makes good sense, considering these two guys worked well together in Atlanta. I view maintaining continuity for the team future is critical, having a new quarterback under development.
As Tampa Bay fans, lets be positive and remember we can only get better.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:58 am
So, you respect Koetter’s class, but don’t disrespect firing people by phone because they make alot of money?
January 7th, 2016 at 10:59 am
@nate
I was thinking the same thing…just interview Frazier to satisfy the Rooney rule…
January 7th, 2016 at 11:01 am
Hey Drew, ever think the Glazers called Lovie to set up a morning meeting, and Lovie just said, “Give it to me straight, guys.”? This whole firing over the phone thing has been blown way out of proportion.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:04 am
2 years in a row now that coach Koetter had been part of a staff where the head coach was fired. We all know it wasn’t his fault, but here’s my point — that looks bad on a resume. There is NO WAY Koetter gets a head coaching opportunity anywhere else.
Here’s my theory
Koetter is under contract here as an OC. He can’t leave for the same position elsewhere. That leaves the door open for a defensive minded head coaching hire.
Earlier this year, Nick Saban mused about returning to the NFL. He said that if he’d had a franchise QB in Miami that he would still be in the NFL. We have that. Saban recruited Jameis to Alabama. He knows the kid and what he’s capable of. He could be talked into keeping Koetter in his current role. And there has een a lot of talk of Saban taking off from UA if he wins another national title. The Glazers love to make a splash.
I think Saban to the Bucs makes sense and there’s some bread crumbs to follow wthere
January 7th, 2016 at 11:07 am
This was surprising – Interest in Koetter or more recent Coughlin availability are the possible reasons why they waited until mid-week to make a move.
Glazers are entering Raiders/Browns territory with turnover in the coaching ranks. Glazers gotta be careful, since good coaches aren’t going to want to come here…
January 7th, 2016 at 11:10 am
I think the Glazers acted to retain Koetter, and so Lovie had to go. No way the Glazers would risk losing Koetter, the coordinator of the NFL’s 5th ranked offense, and a very hot commodity lately, with all these head coaching vacancies.
Not to mention that Tampa’s number one asset Jameis Winston loves him too.
When you look at it this way, the firing of Lovie makes total sense.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:10 am
If we don’t get Koetter this is another disaster coming.
Without field goals this offense average 14 points a game in December. I hope this is not a deciding factor for the Glazer to get another big name HC.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:11 am
Here is my thought. I don’t think Lovie was canned just off performance. Either the Glazer’s hand was forced by Koetter getting offers, Lovie was not willing to make coaching personel changes they wanted (hire a real defensive coordinator) or there is a coach that became available they really want. I think if we don’t have a coach hired soon it’s Lovie being unyeilding. Don’t be suprised to hear we traded a draft pick and Glennon for Sean Payton, remember the Glazers traded for Chucky.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:14 am
Saban is certainly a swing for the fences move- which is what the Glazers need to do. Take a shot at Saban, inquire about Payton, look into Josh McDaniels, Hue Jackson…but there’s guy out there who’s a hell of a coach that few are talking about- David Shaw. For me, he’d be a very good choice. Recruited Jameis to Stanford, has NFL experience and has delivered results. Jimbo, Urban, might be intereting too. Then after all of that, if a Dirk and Mike Smith combo still makes sense, I can live with it.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:14 am
Lovie=Paul Westhead
Dirk=Pat Riley
Jameis=Magic Johnson
McCoy=Jammal Wilkes
Whether premeditated or not, the locker room discord from Sunday night set the table for all this; the team was fractured and Lovie was losing the most important voice in the locker room, Winston. The Glazers chose the counter-intuitive path of stability — to fire Lovie was going to be the way to ensure the most stability for the franchise (i.e. Winston) because Koetter was gone otherwise.
So Jameis may be Magic, but I’ll feel a lot more comfortable about this whole situation if Winston himself had played better in the 0-4 stretch. There I s no 40 point Game 6 performance on his resume.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:22 am
Looks like Koetter’s camp and the Glazers camp have two things in common which is dodging the tough questions. I’m betting the Glazers leave Licht out to dry at the 2 PM presser.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:23 am
All I know is we better have a plan for who we are hiring. If not then this was a big f*ck up and the equivalent of throwing darts blindfolded behind the back to go with Realists imagery.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:30 am
Gus and all the while JW was a 21 yr old rookie QB that SHOULD have lit up the NFL by your standards. All while playing for Lovely Smith. SMH at some of you.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:37 am
BUC 1987: Nobody expecting a championship from them this year, just saying you might want to try not to crap the bed the last 4 games before you call out everybody else. The Lakers went on to be hugely successful. It is a players league to some degree. Just worried that they’ve put too much on Winston here, and combined with his up coming civil trial, fall 2016 is going to be an immense amount of pressure on him and I’m not sure he’s ready for all that. But he and we have no choice.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:38 am
Lol, Howard didn’t think any of this would actually happen,
but it has. Howard was sleepily turning on his car radio this
morning expecting more depressing Bucs news and trivial chatter.
Then, BOOM! Lovie Smith has been fired.
Howard is not a big fan of turnover.
Howard believes turnover to be the sign of an unhealthly business.
HOWEVER, in this case it was the right move.
Losing Koetter (which after reading this article seemed inevitable)
would doom the Bucs. Hell, Koetter and the offense are the only
light this team has seen in years whereas Lovie looks like a worse
move than Morris and Schiano (which were both highly questionable
hirings).
I agree that Koetter will be the HC if he wants to be and the offense
and Winston can happily continue developing. The big question now
is “What pieces are you going to bring in?”.
Koetter needs to be able to concentrate on the details of offense
unless he has a superb help to delegate to.
This was the right move. No question. Losing Koetter would doom
the Bucs at this point in their rebuilding process. Losing Lovie, not
so much.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:40 am
It is being reported now on PFT that a Thursday meeting was scheduled to fire Lovie, but he sensed it and said just do it now over the phone. That does change the “class” question. PFT strikes again, without the full story. Still, my point was that it was believed it happened that way and the certain people were ok with it because Lovie was getting plenty of money.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:44 am
just dont do anything crazy here. make koetter the head coach and start the offseason. the sooner the better
January 7th, 2016 at 11:44 am
Gus…I bet he never sees the courtroom. Jameis has dealt with MUCH more pressure over the last 3 years than ANYONE in the NFL. He can handle pressure.
He’s also counter-suing which he will win.
Either way you got the dates wrong…I’m the JW authority of JBF.
Trial date for civil lawsuit filed against Jameis Winston set for 2017. -ESPN
January 7th, 2016 at 11:47 am
The JBF server is about to catch fire.
Go Bucs!
January 7th, 2016 at 11:49 am
Howard I was on the site when the news broke last night around 10:35 or so.
Of course I was on the site, I’m always on the site.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:50 am
Yeah, 87. I appreciate your commentary.
This was the right move.
Can you imagine losing Koetter to Miami and then spending the off-season listening to Lovie talk about getting the right players for his system?
January 7th, 2016 at 11:51 am
I guess there will be no more smoke being blown up reader’s skirts about how well Lovie developed Winston and how it was the reason Lovie was going to be back in 2016. Sometimes I cant tell if Joe flips or flops or is on target.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:02 pm
@Gus, if you remember Jameis called himself out first and foremost, said he needed to improve his performance. Jameis knows that 4 game stretch was not his best, the rest of the team was was beyond terrible as well. With that being said you have a rookie Qb that lead this offense to 5th overall.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:03 pm
Don’t bring Mike Smith in, the ATL defense was never that great (ok to good at times), and I think the reversal in dynamic may hurt Koetter as HC (if Smith, Koetter’s former HC, begins questioning Koetter’s moves/decisions, then Dirk may question it himself).
I think a Carolina or Seattle assistant (not sure if any are particularly good DC candidates, but if there are, that would be the type of 4-3 Defenses we should be trying to emulate) would be a good move, and let them clean house of the coaching staff on that side of the ball. The Bucs need a 4-3 guy, but with a more attacking philosophy than the Tampa 2.
The Tampa 2 is a great Defense to run, if there are 5 HoF caliber players (Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, Barber and Rice), and two other Pro Bowl level players (Quarles and Kelly) in the starting line up to run it. Short of that level of talent, the Tampa 2 gets smoked more times than not.
By the way, I guess HBO will no longer be looking at the Bucs for Hardknocks this year.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:24 pm
21 more comments and all your posts are going to disappear. It starts over at 50.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Howard ….I’m just glad we don’t have to listen to Lovie’s lies anymore.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:34 pm
@buc1987
which would be fine ( especially for the mobile users) If there was a back to see the previous 50!!!
January 7th, 2016 at 12:37 pm
This just in…GMC and David requesting to be traded.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:37 pm
I new this was coming firing Lovie and hiring Koetter as head coach. Koetter’s offense was very successful compared to most of the offenses the Bucs have had. Lovie’s defense was still the pits. Who are you going to keep, the most successful coach of course. As soon as there was a demand for Koetter Lovie became expendable. Obviously the Bucs have totally bought in on Jameis. From what I have read the players on offense have really bought in on Koetter and his offensive scheme. Put two and two together and you have Koetter as the new head coach of the Bucs.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:39 pm
“Leslie Frazier out in Tampa as well”
From PFT. Let me just say…that was actually a good move.
I said last week the only reason I could understand firing Lovie is in order to keep Koetter. That is apparently the case.
btw, Dirk isn’t interviewing anywhere just yet…he got hip surgery today.
Mike Smith might be our DC.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:42 pm
Who really cares what method was used to fire him. He’s gone. Get over it.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:43 pm
Gus Says:
January 7th, 2016 at 11:14 am
Lovie=Paul Westhead
Dirk=Pat Riley
Jameis=Magic Johnson
McCoy=Jammal Wilkes
————————————
I was thinking the exact same thing this morning when I first heard of Lovie getting fired.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:43 pm
Ideally, Koetter admits he ants to be an OC and stake his career on JW. We get a pedigree HC that wants to build around JW. We get a DC who can use the talented players we have and build around that.
January 7th, 2016 at 2:11 pm
@bonzai
Where does it say GMC and LVD are requesting to be traded?? Not saying your wrong just trying to find it
January 7th, 2016 at 4:28 pm
http://www.tbo.com/sports/bucs/date-set-for-trial-in-jameis-winston-lawsuit-20151129/
New date. Jameis goes to trial January 3, 2017, just in time for the playoffs.
If I’m the new coach, I make resolution of that suit a condition to taking the job. It is a terrible thing to be hanging over him and the franchise.