Who Is Scared Of Team Glazer?
January 13th, 2016
Does Team Glazer frighten you?
Great piece of comedy to start the morning, courtesy of the often laughable BSPN.
It seems, if you believe an unnamed coach in the NFL, Team Glazer is a combination Dracula, Frankenstein, The Riddler and Bernie Sanders all rolled into one.
That’s what Mike Sando is fronting with a quote from an unnamed source (ill-suited Marcus Arroyo?) to paint a bleak picture of Team Glazer in a column about the NFL’s best coaching vacancies.
It seems the Bucs have wonderful options to lure a quality coach except, Sando writes, for Team Glazer. He lists the Bucs’ gig, even with America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, on board, as only the No. 3 opening.
The Buccaneers have a promising young quarterback in Jameis Winston, a potential franchise running back in Doug Martin, a diverse collection of pass-catchers and two of the more dominant defensive players at their positions in Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David. They are also one of the youngest teams in the league, but after watching how the Glazer family’s ownership has operated over the years, this situation isn’t as appealing as it should be.
“The owners scare me,” an exec said.
When the Buccaneers’ job was open two years ago, I quoted an agent who described the Glazers as owners who played “fantasy football with real people” to the point that “Jerry Jones Light” was an apt description. Jones also serves as the Dallas Cowboys’ GM, at least. The Buccaneers’ owners operate in the shadows.
Of course, the expected drumbeat of horror that Lovie Smith was fired is included, and this gem from said unnamed (former?) NFL coach.
“They fire a guy who is bedrock in the industry and they don’t even go to the press conference.”
LOL “Bedrock in the industry.” Let Joe translate this for you: “I don’t want to work for an ownership group where I may be on the hot seat if I can only win eight games in two years, can’t get out of the division basement and have a pass defense that stinks worse than rotten fish. I need to work for an ownership group that doesn’t care about winning and has money to burn. Do you have Stan Kroenke’s number? I’d like to retire in California some day.”
When will people learn that if Lovie — his defense, folks, can’t blame this on former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik — only had an average defense, then he’d still be here.
Sure, if Lovie didn’t make all of his mistakes — too many to document here this morning — the team wouldn’t have America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston. Of course, a drunk fantasy football player in the bar wouldn’t have made those same mistakes (Darrelle Revis, Donald Penn, Jeremy Zuttah, Ghost Johnson, Anthony Collins, Evan Smith, Stewart McClown!) so Joe isn’t sure how Lovie deserves much credit there.
And don’t think for a moment that Lovie burning through tens of millions of dollars of Team Glazer loot on the worst free agents a sober person could find didn’t set him up on the hot seat. Joe doesn’t care how rich a man is, throwing his cash down a toilet is never endearing to the guy signing paychecks, nor should it be.
Yeah, poor Lovie, who walked out of One Buc Palace with a $10 million parting gift not to work. What an outrage. We should all be so p!ssed on.
Spare Joe the crocodile tears for a guy getting paid millions not to work when there are plenty of talented people who have to feed a family and cannot find a decent job in this stagnant economy.
January 13th, 2016 at 5:18 am
So let me get this straight.. Lovie hires Licht.. They become good friends. Licht drafts all offensive players except one. Offense turns it around, defense stinks. Licht fires Lovie. Some friend Licht is!
January 13th, 2016 at 5:21 am
Lovie is such a bedrock in the industry that teams are lining up to hire him. Imagine, team owners that want to win and hold the coach responsible when that doesn’t happen.
January 13th, 2016 at 5:26 am
Lmao
It’s hilarious to see how the glazers and fans act like they won’t tolerate losing.
Have any of you checked the history of this franchise? Only about 5 years of winning since 1976!
They fire coaches like this is some storied franchise that won’t tolerate anything other than complete domination lol. It’s pretty funny.
Should just be happy we even have a team and they haven’t tried to move them. Fans should be used to this.
January 13th, 2016 at 5:30 am
“That’s what Mike Sando is fronting with a quote from an unnamed source..”
So, in other words, he made it up. If Mike Sando can’t provide a source, he can’t prove he did not make it all up.
Love should have had one more year and a defensive draft, yes, but so far as the action of firing him, I have no problem with the way it was handled. Lovie insisted on the Glazers NOT doing it in person. That was his decision.
This whole fuss about them not being at the press conference is dumb. They were just continuing to give Movie his request…no direct appearance. Obviously, there was some bad blood, probably related to backstabbing, horrible GM Jason Licht…who has taken no responsibility for the last 2 years.
The more information comes out, its more and more clear that Love never got a fair shot.
January 13th, 2016 at 5:33 am
Not totally sure Joe if this piece is about being scared of the Glazers or about not having any sympathy for Lovie Smith.
If it’s about the Glazers, then yes I am ‘scared’ of them. We had a pretty good thing going with Tony Dungy and Rich McKay here (surely not perfect, but pretty good), but that wasn’t good enough for them. Fine, it’s their prerogative as owners to bring in a new team in Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen. Brought us the SB everyone craved (thanks largely to Dungy’s record-setting 2002 defense?) but we faltered after that. Been downhill since, especially in these last 6 years.
Biggest problem in my opinion is that they haven’t been able to get the HC & GM team right. And the two do need to function as a team or it doesn’t work. Picking that HC-GM team is clearly the Glazers responsibility, and they’ve failed at it 3 times in a row. Does their 4th attempt in 7 years now concern me? I’d have to say the answer is YES. Hopefully they’ve learned from past mistakes and truly listen to their GM on this one.
January 13th, 2016 at 5:42 am
Lovie is protected deep into the reserves of the national media scribes. I love how Schiano was a better coach and these same people were at his doors with pitch forks. Totally biased.
January 13th, 2016 at 5:46 am
@BuccaneerBonzai … “The more information comes out, its more and more clear that Lovie never got a fair shot.
I felt that Lovie should’ve been given one more year (with a defensive draft) also, but conditionally. His secondary coaches obviously weren’t getting the job done, and that had to change. None of us know what went down in relation to that … maybe Lovie balked and refused to change there. We simply don’t know. Maybe the Glazers lost confidence in Lovie’s ability to turn the ship around … their prerogative as owners (it’s their Bucks).
Don’t think we can truly say that Lovie never got a fair shot. And as far as Jason Licht goes, I don’t see any evidence of backstabbing. Things I read say that he’s a considered by many to be highly qualified and experienced. We’d all better hope that he’s exactly that and that his search for a new HC leads to a turn-around for this franchise.
January 13th, 2016 at 6:19 am
None of these people ever bring up the introductory press conference where lovie tells us not to be patient and we are going to win now. Super bowl baby. Then 6 weeks into year one who starts with the, oh the fans have to be patient bs. Bye bye lovie. Go back to your basement
January 13th, 2016 at 6:22 am
Sorry, Joe, but the guy is dead on. The Glazers have given us absolutely no reason to believe they know what they are doing.
January 13th, 2016 at 6:36 am
While I generally believe in the 3 year time table for a coach as well I would have been more perplexed by the Glazer’s of they had kept Lovie after generally doing a worse job in most aspects than Schiano who they had fired after only two years. Any HC looking at the Bucs job knows the deal…the Glazer’s have actually been consistent…they are patient with a coach that doesn’t have a late season collapse, keep showing improvement or you’re on thin ice. I’m not sure the Glazer’s deserve this much national media heat for firing a coach that lost his last 4 games and finished 6-10 with one of the easiest schedules last year?
January 13th, 2016 at 7:00 am
Right on brother! Our pathetic defense and lack of discipline sealed Lovie’s fate. The four game losing streak to close what could have been an outstanding season left a nasty taste in any true Buc fan’s mouth, as well as ownership. Would have been a tough sell trying to entice fans to buy tickets to see a team that had a paper mache defense, no discipline, and a coach who seemed ok with it all. I love the fact that the Glazers won’t tolerate mediocrity. I’d rather keep Koetter or another offensive minded coach who can continue to hone Winston’s skills at this level and try and bring in a defensive coach who can herd these cats into doing the right thing on a consistent basis. Go Bucs!
January 13th, 2016 at 7:03 am
“The Buccaneers’ owners operate in the shadows”. That’s very “Illuminati” sounding verbiage.. Makes them sound like the Bilderbergs’ or the Rothschilds’.
January 13th, 2016 at 7:13 am
Anybody in their right mind would slot the Head Coaching vacancies as:
1. NY Giants
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. Tampa Bay Bucs
Measure ownership or history or crowd support or talent on hand. All measurables come out the above way, without question. Just means Team Glazer has work to do to catch Mara, etc.
It took guts to cut good guy-but incompetent Lovie Smith, but 75% of those polled say it was absolutely the right thing to do. Thanks Glazers.
January 13th, 2016 at 7:25 am
Lovie….being that “bedrock”……seems to me that teams ought to be interviewing him right now….
January 13th, 2016 at 7:49 am
I was in Philadelphia last week and listening to 97.5 sports talk radio and the fans and the sports guys actually have Lovie in there top 5 of coaches they want and they want Lovie as either a HC or DC up there. This just shows how much other parts of the country do not not pay attention to anything else. Lovie was a terrible coacha dn personnel guy and the proof is in the record and the lack of players he left behind on defense. If you keep Donald Penn, Zuttah and thenon defense Barona nd Goldson and Foster, all of whom for whatever reason could not play in Lovies d system, that along with GMC andLVD is a nucleusof a pretty good system and then you have jonathan banks who was doing good before….take Lovie Philly, take him please
January 13th, 2016 at 8:10 am
Wait what?Are you guys serious ?
January 13th, 2016 at 8:11 am
[It was nice knowing you. — Joe]
January 13th, 2016 at 8:19 am
Why can’t my post go thru?
January 13th, 2016 at 8:21 am
Lovie didn’t get a fair shot? We had holes to fill on both sides of the ball. Can it be possible lovie and light sat down and talked and said do you want defensI’ve players from the draft or free agency. As far as I’m concerned he got the pieces he felt he needed thru free agency which turned out to be either busts or non productive Jenkins ,ghost johnson, George johnson, Jennings Conte hell if light gave him defensive players n the draft and he still couldn’t produce a decentourage to average defense what would be your argument then?
January 13th, 2016 at 8:22 am
Lovie should have never been hired in the first place. He is not a good coach.
January 13th, 2016 at 8:28 am
The owners should be scaring Bucs fans as well. The Buccaneers are 58-102 over the past ten years since the sons took over day-to-day operations from their father. That is a scary organizational problem.
I hate to interrupt your regularly scheduled Lovie bashing but just wanted to point out the Bucs had an average defense until Kwon Alexander was suspended. The league average for scoring points this season was 22.8 points per game. Through the first 12 games the Buccaneers defense allowed on average 22.25 points per game. When Kwon Alexander was suspended that number went up to an average of 29.75 points per game.
Losing Kwon Alexander for the remainder of the season hurt the defense and that’s a fact.
January 13th, 2016 at 8:35 am
Not suggesting that (there are elements of this story Joe has also “heard.”)
If Joe only needed one unnamed source for a story, you wouldn’t believe the hatchet jobs he could do on everyone. Everyone!
January 13th, 2016 at 8:43 am
d-rome:
Please brush up on your vocabulary. What exactly did Joe write that was incorrect. If Joe wants to “bash” someone, trust Joe, you and every reader will not be in doubt.
If you are upset Lovie failed, might want to seek counseling. He’s not coming back.
January 13th, 2016 at 8:49 am
One more bad/weird hire and it’s Bill Bidwill territory.
January 13th, 2016 at 8:50 am
After hiring Dominik, Raheem, Schiano and Lovie, yes the Glazer Brothers scare the hell out of me as a fan
January 13th, 2016 at 8:53 am
D-Rome’s point about Kwon and the D is a good one. Frankly, if Kwon plays and we win 2 of the final 4 Lovie is still here. Just goes to show the razor thin margin of error in this business. Wow!
January 13th, 2016 at 8:56 am
It’s not an invalid point, but if a rookie getting suspended causes your defense to totally and completely collapse with no ability to correct, fix or adjust, what does that say?
January 13th, 2016 at 9:00 am
Lovie Smith, great guy. Terrible coach. We moved in, it’s over. And I’m glad we did. It’s like breaking up with that girlfriend you’ve been wanting to for awhile, and then it happens! I’m excited for the next opportunity. im glad we don’t have owners who settle for mediocrity, I don’t care if it’s one year or 10. He wasn’t getting results, he had to go. The only reason the players are upset over it is because he ran a soft program kinda like Raheem Morris.
January 13th, 2016 at 9:08 am
Supersam and WTF
I agree!!!
BTW it’s official they made my “scary” list:
1. Aliens
2. Ghosts
3. Bigfoot
4. Glazers
January 13th, 2016 at 9:11 am
the kevin
We have had 11 winning seasons since 1976. Eight of those winning records were under the Glazers.
Since the Glazers have owned the team(20years for those bad with math), they have had 5 HCs, seven playoff berths and a Super Bowl Championship in Super Bowl XXXVII.
January 13th, 2016 at 9:33 am
Larry Curly and Mo Glazer
January 13th, 2016 at 10:04 am
Good morning… Thank you OAR your second comment gave me a solid nugget to sling shot at my NY/NFC least following friends… The same ones who have teams who get national attention and yet we beat all of em… Anyway that Steven A Smith rant(uninformed, irresponsible and unresearched) has caused our team to be under a microscope… I believe in the glazers they own one of the top 10 franchises in the world… Period.
But I love how many commenters and “journalists” Miss this over and over… I heard someone say they aren’t “football” guys but in Europe they aren’t futbol guys… The glazers are better than the scheinburners trust me I’m from NY… Someone also said that at least we have a team… Dead on bro, at least Tampa has a team… The glazers as owners haven’t held the Bay Area for ransom and only want to win. Now!
Are you really mad?! Cmon these guys are fans who own a team, and they don’t want to be mediocre… Face that and understand the bucs have a team that could be relevant for the next ten years
Anybody remember the pats before Tom Brady? Well if they do they know all the same things were said of Robert Kraft
January 13th, 2016 at 10:08 am
Why is bspn in love with Lovie? The man made his bed and its as simple as that
January 13th, 2016 at 10:09 am
It really is amazing, isn’t it? I hear former players and coaches say all the time games are generally won or lost based on five or six plays. The direction of a franchise or a season can hinge on one player or a single play. I was reminded this week that had the Dolphins traded for Drew Brees instead of Daunte Culpepper Nick Saban may still be in Miami.
January 13th, 2016 at 11:38 am
Do not understand the Bernie Sanders comment.
January 13th, 2016 at 12:37 pm
Joe – no matter how much we scream that firing Lovie was the correct move – it’s almost impossible to find a scenario where a team hired its 5th different coach in just over 7 seasons and had great success for doing it. There are only a handful of scenarios I’ve seen posted where success was achieved and that was never in the 4th/5th coaches first two years. So unless the Glazers are willing to let the new coach struggle for a few years as we ONCE AGAIN reshape the roster to fit the type of men he’s looking for – this team will be displaying the definition of insanity to world yet again.
January 13th, 2016 at 1:11 pm
@oar
I don’t care what stats you throw out. No team has lost more games than the bucs since they’ve been a team. Lmao idiot.
January 13th, 2016 at 1:18 pm
@oar
Here’s a stat. 15 years without a winning record. Don’t sit here and act like this is a franchise built on winning.
Like this is a franchise of success. You sound stupid.
January 13th, 2016 at 2:35 pm
the kevin
You were wrong, so I corrected you and gave you some correct info…..but I’m the stupid idiot, classic!
January 13th, 2016 at 3:05 pm
@oar
Where was I wrong?
My original post is making fun of the glazers!
How can the worst team in the nfl since they’ve been a team act like they won’t tolerate losing. Look at the history of this franchise.
January 13th, 2016 at 3:35 pm
the kevin
“Where was I wrong?”
Really? I bet you need a lot of “hand-holding”.
January 13th, 2016 at 4:52 pm
@oar
I bet you do a lot of di ck holding
January 13th, 2016 at 6:09 pm
stagnant economy? only for us average “joes” the upper class keeps growing wealth LOL ‘Merica!!!