Stop Crying For Lovie!
January 7th, 2016
Lovie gave Team Glazer too many reasons to fire him. (Or tens of millions as in dollars.)
Look, Joe got zero satisfaction writing Lovie Smith’s obituary as Bucs head coach. But simply put, he failed.
The dismissal of Lovie was hardly unjustified.
But for someone who types about football for a living to claim there was no justification for Lovie to be launched, well, Joe is going to call this person out. Problem is, whoever typed the following is so ashamed of what they wrote, they didn’t put their byline on it.
There are good folks who write for WalterFootball.com, good people Joe respects. But one suggested he cannot fathom how Lovie deserved to get fired. This guy needs to start writing about golf if he has his head in the sand buried that deep.
Below is the writeup about Lovie’s firing at WalterFootball.com.
Buccaneers fire HC Lovie Smith: C- Grade
The Buccaneers are a dysfunctional organization because of poor ownership, and we’ve set another example of that here in the wake of Lovie Smith’s firing.
I don’t get what Smith did wrong. The Buccaneers finished 6-10, which was well above expectations. They were 2-14 the year before and were starting a rookie quarterback the entire season. Six wins was fine. In fact, four or five victories should have been the goal.
The only reason this isn’t an “F” – or a “York” – is because Smith isn’t that great of a coach. He’s had success in the past, but his defensive scheme is outdated. However, continuity is important, and the teams that often fire coaches seldom succeed. The Buccaneers, apparently, do not understand this.
WHAT?! “I don’t get what Smith did wrong.” Jiminy Christmas! Joe doesn’t get what Lovie did right, aside from one very major element: his perfect and thorough handling of America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston.
Yes, that was a major positive, so big Joe thought surely it bought Lovie another year.
Outside of Lovie’s handing of Jameis, he virtually bungled everything else. From running off Darrelle Revis and Donald Penn and shoving all of his chips to the middle of the table for Stewart McClown to begin his tenure, to claiming in his final days as Bucs coach he didn’t have his players on defense — when he picked the friggin’ players!
Joe cannot believe for a second anyone who covers the NFL would be or could be so naive to not understand why Lovie was run. When you have the second-worst two-year start of any coach in the sordid history of the Bucs, you really have to try to be that bad.
Anyone who claims they are shocked by Lovie’s firing has little to no understanding or knowledge of the 2014 and 2015 Buccaneers.
Yes, Joe is chagrin Lovie was fired. That meant he failed. Joe wants all Bucs coaches to succeed.
Lovie reportedly got $20 million to come to the Bucs. Let’s spare the pity party, shall we?
January 7th, 2016 at 7:05 am
Amen
January 7th, 2016 at 7:10 am
Real dark horse Nick Saban
January 7th, 2016 at 7:10 am
Exactly!! These national meatballs are proving the know nothing about the Bucs the last 5 years. Maybe if they didn’t spend 16 hours a day studying Romo’s stupid clavicle, they’d know what the hell they are talking about. It’s like me saying I dont understand why a stock broker bought or sold a stock. They are uneducated on the subject!!
January 7th, 2016 at 7:14 am
I was not a Lovie fan, But I do not rejoice, or claim I was correct and someone else was wrong. I am excited for the Bucs opportunity!!! Now the Bucs have a chance to take a huge step forward. The last regime was severely handicapped in certain area’s. I cannot promise every decision from here on is perfect!! But just like NFL schemes, NFL organizations must adjust to adversity, and that is exactly what the Glazers are doing!!!!
Lets go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
January 7th, 2016 at 7:16 am
Whenever I see the national media piss on the Bucs, I’m mostly confused because I was under the assumption they never actually watch the Bucs. If they did maybe they’d understand why Lovie is out right now. His defense lost consistently to below average QBs. He is known as an alleged defensive guy. He couldn’t maximize a team that maybe wasn’t Seattle or Carolina talent wise, but also wasn’t that bad either to make every backup look like a future Canton inductee.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:17 am
I see a lot of the race card being delt here, more from Black media members. If you think Lovie did such a great job, he should get hired asap just like Andy Reid did right? Nope Lovie was canned and took a year off. Lovie’s decisions were all bad. McClown, Penn, the Defense was TERRIBLE. Time to let Jamies run he is the future. Get a good defensive coordinator, an d watch this team get better
January 7th, 2016 at 7:23 am
Maybe the glazers will let Licht hire the next coach, since he’s a real rockstar in drafting.
Maybe they will interview more than one coach this time…
January 7th, 2016 at 7:27 am
Sorry to see him go. He made too many F/A mistakes early on but I think with Lichts’ help the decision making improved dramatically. His team was a play or 2 away from being 9-7 this year. The team was 2 years away from being a consistent contender, year in, year out. Now we take a step or 2 backwards.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:28 am
Spot on Joes, the thing is whomever is the next HC, walks into a hell of a schedule… but if they could go 7-9 or 8-8 thats a win, had no faith in Lovie, he may never coach or be a DC in NFL AGAIN
January 7th, 2016 at 7:30 am
You know it alls will be running of the next coach after next season. Lmao
Aww the bucs. The bumbling bucs lol
One of the worst franchises in the nfl since forever lol
This just another example of why they are the sucks lol
January 7th, 2016 at 7:31 am
Just woke up. I guess there’s no hard knocks this year lol. When did they make the decision to move christmas to January lol. Go Bucs, don’t heed the haters!
January 7th, 2016 at 7:31 am
Anyone who has questions should look towards 8-24 and stop wondering. John Fox was fired at the Broncos and had a much better record. Chip Kelly who arguably has more talent in his pinky was fired.
No one cried for the coach who was fired so that Lovie might take his place? The previous coach had a better record with less in the cupboard. The team was an embarrassment with the stupid penalties, the failure to game plan for specific opponents, the lack of ability in making substantial changes at half time, and the total disregard for what was really wrong with the team.
Every week…playoffs….playoffs??? What a joke. I think Team Glazer knows that if they gave Lovie one more year, they would have simply wasted 3 years on this experiment. No they have only wasted the last 2 years!
Dirk Koetter should get a shot. If not there are a lot of good choices. Jon Grudent lost 4 in a row….fired. Schiano lost 4 in a row…fired. Lovie has a horrible football name, a worse name, and he lost 4 in a row…FIRED!
I am celebrating that the Big Poodle has his lips planted on Lovie’s backside so he will have to leave when Lovie whines his way out of town.
Greg Schiano
January 7th, 2016 at 7:33 am
I guess the Glazers didn’t want to be on Hard Knocks!
January 7th, 2016 at 7:35 am
Schiano totally agree and I was one of the few who wanted greg schiano to get one more year because I felt he was getting the bucs in right direction… but thats the past… im with koetter and then go get mike smith or jim schwartz… i would not rule out josh mcdaniels w the licht connection
January 7th, 2016 at 7:40 am
@ Greg Schino The previous coach had “less in the cupboard” because the coach let them walk away.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:40 am
I was surprised as the next person to see this happen this year. I wanted Lovie to succeed here as we stability in Tampa. IMO, this firing was the fault of the players. If they would have put more effort on the field, then they would still have the coach they respected. Now they can see the ramifications of their efforts. Yes I’m pointing at the defense.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:42 am
Great neighbor, horrible coach.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:44 am
Well, well, well. I guess us uniformed Great Gazoo listening fans aren’t such dumb dumb’s after all. Get it right this time Glazer’s.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:44 am
“I don’t get what Smith did wrong” ????????????????????
That comment alone let’s you know that whomever wrote this piece is just as much of an idiot as lovie smith…..simple as that !!!!
January 7th, 2016 at 7:45 am
TBBF…what did I tell you. “Not so fast.”
January 7th, 2016 at 7:45 am
Dirk for HC. Mike Smith for DC.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:47 am
This is the only fair statement posted with this update.
You got what you wanted Joe. All these months of criticism and innuendo….it wasn’t very difficult for anyone to read between the lines. You make a statement about Lovie picking the players without any context of how past decisions from previous coaches (plural) impacted the team negatively. You write as if there were better choices available. You say don’t cry for Lovie but two years later you’re still crying for Revis and Donald Penn….the same Donald Penn who was part of an overpaid, underachieving offensive line.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:51 am
The strange individual Charlie Campbell likely wrote this. He’s always loved dumping on the Bucs. Still a good reporter, though
January 7th, 2016 at 7:52 am
Back to the basement……hahahahahahaha….and hopefully he’ll stay there for good….I don’t ever want to hear this idiot on any talk shows. He sounds freaking lost.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:55 am
Bucs are better today…”simple as that” !!!
January 7th, 2016 at 8:06 am
I was just watching NFL network. They pronounced Licht’s name as licked. More proof they are uneducated and that their opinion is as worthless as t!ts on a boar!!
January 7th, 2016 at 8:08 am
The reality is that no team is going to retain a coach that loses. While love showed minimal improvement in his second year 8-24 in a win now era is not going to cut it on any team. Every team has injuries, busts, bad actors, and a sack full of excuses. We have a core of really good players that could greatly improve this team if coached up and were motivated to win. We also have a lot of holes on defense which with few exception Lovie failed to improve. I hate this revolving door policy with coaches, but if you see a team losing games it shouldn’t, committing the most penalties in the league, beating only teams with losing records and mailing it in December you have to make a change. We don’t get two or three years to prove to our bosses that we were worth hiring. Six wins was not enough with the talent we have, especially when those wins came after we found an OC that developed one of the best QB prospects to hit the NFL in a long time.
January 7th, 2016 at 8:13 am
Biggest issue with Love for me – accountability! Did her ever accept responsibility for a loss, leading the league in penalties, poor defensive schemes, undisciplined players, poor free agent signings, lack of defensive adjustments, etc? Maybe I missed it but did any fan here ever hear him accept responsibility? Once? Anything? Bueller?
January 7th, 2016 at 8:16 am
I wanted Lovie to be successful, however I’ve never been more embarrassed of our defense over the last two seasons! We went backwards and most importantly have lost all faith other than the fact it can’t get any worst.
Unacceptable when you were hired on the fact that defense was your area of expertise.
We made quarterbacks gain confidence to the point that Kirk cousins is in the playoffs now. We made that happen. This has been a carousel of teams kicking us in the balls every Sunday.
January 7th, 2016 at 8:18 am
This coming from the man who could not articulate any reason to jettison Mark Dominik after five years,
I thought the team had shown some good progress and Lovie brought in some very talented young players in addition to Jameis,
That being said that was a horrific finish and disappointing finish with a team that was undisciplined all year really. And the defense was routinely shredded,
So no crying,
January 7th, 2016 at 8:24 am
I imagine this conversation took place.
Glazers: Lovie the secondary is atrocious you need to fire your DB coaches
Lovie: But my son is a a DB coach
Glazers: Yeah what’s your point?
Lovie: But he might get mad at me
Glazers: Well I guess you are both out of a job then, off you go.
January 7th, 2016 at 8:25 am
Joe, your media brothers are fostering and encouraging this behavior. 8 wins in two seasons is unacceptable.
January 7th, 2016 at 8:43 am
Outdated defense? Tell that to the Seahawks and the Panthers. Same freaking defenses, same scheme, 4-3 one-gap attacking schemes. The playcalling may be different as well as the talent, but the playbooks and philosophies are pretty much the same.
I say the Bucs make the RIGHT move, not the popular move, and hire Ron Meeks as DC. Before anybody that knows next to nothing brushes this off, do some homework on Ron Meeks. Best available DC out there.
January 7th, 2016 at 8:51 am
Brandon, don’t get too riled up about the comments regarding an “outdated defense” by the morons commenting. Yes, you are absolutely correct that the Panthers and Seahawks (and other teams) run a similar scheme but that’s lost on most people here. What’s also lost on most people is that whether it’s a 3-4 or a 4-3 that every team in the NFL runs a Cover 2 from time to time.
Yes, every time he said it starts with him. I guess you weren’t paying attention.
January 7th, 2016 at 9:03 am
It pisses me off when they sit here and cry about Lovie being fired players included! Well if you wanted Lovie to be the coach so bad why didn’t you play harder on Sunday’s!?!
January 7th, 2016 at 9:04 am
He needed to go! The team looked did not look like they knew what was going on at times and extremely undisciplined. I have had many rants on here about him being a mediocre coach at best. I am sure he is a wonderful man/person but he should not have been the choice for the job. Not to mention all the good football players he let go for less than or no peanuts. IT IS CRAZY! He was horrible at evaluating talent! There were a lot of good football players let go that are contributing big time with other teams and you mean to tell me that he could get them to work in his system. Come on!
There is only one name that matters! And that is Gruden! If you want to excite and ignite your fan base with excitement,work a deal to hire him! Took this team to the playoffs every year but one season. He is the man! Signifies Buccaneers Football! Team Glazer, make it happen!
January 7th, 2016 at 9:05 am
WalterFootball.com is a joke. I’ve read it for years and they have a anti-Bucs slant to anything they write
January 7th, 2016 at 9:09 am
Sorry guys no Nick Saban. Heard a college pundit with great connections in Alabama say Mrs Saban does not want to move…and there are three generations of Sabans who now live in the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham area.
Plus there’s the fact that he may have one of the best coaching gigs in America.
He is assured to have a talent advantage in virturally EVERY game he plays except for the one or two a year against teams like Clemson or whichever SEC power is tough that year.
Then there is his Miami experience. That can’t be a pleasant memory for Saban and I’m not sure I would even want him as a PRO coach.
He’s one of the all time great college coaches…it’s a totally different game because unlike the NFL where parity means talent levels are “relatively” equal..in college ball the talent disparities on the schedule are shameful in some situations. Do we really need to see…(Insert your own Bama..FSU..UF..OSU any powerhouse) play (insert Citadel, UT Chattanooga or any other cupcake smaller program)?
January 7th, 2016 at 9:15 am
He devised his own demise by doing two things:
1) Telling fans not to be patient
2) Hiring Koetter
When you are a long time NFL veteran head coach, the expectation level is that we don’t see embarrassing play on the field. The Bucs had four losses of 4 TDs or more under Lovie and several more 17-21 point losses. He should have been blunt on day 1 and said this is going to take years. When you talk a good game, you better back it up. He didn’t.
And then there was the fact Koetter was the new Ron Rivera. In fact I would have been shocked in Lovie didn’t fire Koetter at some point just like he did Ron: Because he was afraid people would notice who really was the brains of the operation. The only reason this team “tripled its win total” was the work of Dirk and the offense, even if I think that he’s being oversold has having done a great job. He did well but there was a lot of room for improvement. It’s why I’m not convinced he should be the guy even if he is.
Lovie hired his friends and buddies on defense, and look at how that worked out. But there was no threat to him from the defensive side, and in fact he got a pass from many for the “lack of talent”. He didn’t hire the best coaches he could for defense. When he did for offense, Koetter became the man and essentially forced him out.
January 7th, 2016 at 9:29 am
Brandon
Good point. Panthers and Seahawks run similar schemes. I guess the difference would be the the coaching of said schemes.
Lets see here, let me do some math…. Rivera > Lovie… Carrol > Lovie
Hey, I fiund the problem. Lovie stunk it up. He failed to coach up HIS hand picked guys.
He doomed himself when he took over the defensive duties ealier this season and they still played terrible football.
January 7th, 2016 at 9:35 am
BuccoBruce
Gruden would ignite the fans but I dont think there is anyway he would walk away from that sweet gig he has now. Why wake up at 4am every day and put in 12 to 15 hours just to start rebuilding a dumpster fire of a defense? But, if anything could persuade him, it might be Winston.
January 7th, 2016 at 10:18 am
Don’t compare Lovie’s D to the Seahawks or Panthers. You think those teams would have gotten rid of Revis if they had the cap room we had? That was an arrogant belief that his scheme was more important than talent.
But the main problem with Lovie is his refusal to adjust to what our opponents are doing to our defense ingame. In the chess game of the NFL he is playing checkers.
Same thing over and over again and he sits back and takes it. He also handpicked most of the guys that were subpar and underperfoming because they fit his “scheme.” The very complicated scheme that every QB in the league we played against hit over 70% of their passes.
He doesn’t identify talent well, he doesn’t make in game decisions very well, he doesn’t inspire his team or coach his players up very well, but he did go to a Super Bowl a decade ago. Nice man, but only one other team did worse than he did in the past two years. Time to move on.
We are so much better off today then we were yesterday.
Go Bucs!
January 7th, 2016 at 10:18 am
Lovie got the same treatment when the Bears got rid of him. “But they went 10-6?? How do you fire him?” Sure, they went 10-6, but they were 7-1 and closed out with a 3-5 finish that knocked them out of the playoffs. Hmm, not finishing season well, where have I seen that recently….
January 7th, 2016 at 11:13 am
This is what I would expect from the national media. Lovie’s a nice guy, an insider with the NFL ecosystem. I could hear them the moment I saw the news break: “Two years is not long enough”.
Sorry but they are not Bucs fans and do not know how awful he was. Yes, we improved 3-fold in 2015, but only because he was the worst in 2014. Who wants the small bits of progress of more years on this defense? It’s time to jump to a different ship that just might go somewhere.
I also think hiring his son to coach safeties, and probably his refusal to fire him and other defensive staff after another horrible year, did him in.
The Warriors fired Mark Jackson too after going 51-31 and making the playoffs.
January 7th, 2016 at 11:20 am
Jerseybuc Says:
January 7th, 2016 at 10:18 am
Don’t compare Lovie’s D to the Seahawks or Panthers. You think those teams would have gotten rid of Revis if they had the cap room we had?
_________________________________________________________________
/end argument.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:04 pm
I don’t completely blame Lovie for the lack of talent on defense. The cupboard was bare when he arrived… However, I am glad he is gone. This team was not going anywhere with that crap defense getting picked apart every week regardless of who the opposing QB is…
January 7th, 2016 at 12:21 pm
“defensive scheme is outdated”
Tell that to the Panthers and Seahawks.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:22 pm
I am sick and tired of hearing about Revis. The guy is simply nowhere near worth the money. NO CB IS!
January 7th, 2016 at 12:24 pm
D-Rome – We’re Bucs fan first!!! Lovie was 8-24 and going no where. One playoff trip in nine years. That is the suck. He was an extinct dinosaur.
Good riddance.
January 7th, 2016 at 12:47 pm
If Walter is THAT clueless about the situation in Tampa, makes you wonder how good his prospect grading is! I really like his site but damn man, C-? He even said that Lovie was not THAT good a coach. Come on man!