Koetter & The 49ers’ Head Coaching Job
October 20th, 2016
Joe has heard far to many bitter Bucs fans and Lovie Smith apologists scream “baloney” at the notion Dirk Koetter was nearly about to bolt Tampa Bay in January for a head coaching gig somewhere else.
Silliness! Hall of Fame former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, who lives in Tampa, had his eye on Koetter and was advising his nephew Jed York on their head-coaching search.
Koetter was interviewed quickly for the San Francisco job after the close of the 2015 season, and he’s still remembered as a finalist now.
Matt Maiocco, of CSN Bay Area, wrote about that today. And Koetter was asked about how his pre-interview knowledge of the Niners might apply to Sunday’s game.
Koetter said the research he did on the organization and the 49ers’ roster gave him no significant head start as he began to prepare the Buccaneers (2-3) for Sunday’s game.
“Just a little on that, but nothing that really carries over,” Koetter said. “The fact we had a bye last week, we got to spend some extra time on the 49ers. As far as their offense goes, we played coach Kelly last year when he was at Philly. You can see some of the carryover there for the guys who were here last year. But we have a new defensive staff and we’re playing a different defense. So the fact we had a bye, a little extra. But that’s just about it.”
Koetter and the Niners are old news, but Koetter’s a competitive guy. Joe’s certain he has a little extra juice to him, eager to beat the guys who didn’t hire him.
October 20th, 2016 at 2:31 pm
I don’t think he would have gotten the gig either, but really, could the Bucs risk it?
Even if they have a losing season this year, it was worth promoting Koetter for the continuity for Jameis. And it would be worth it to keep Koetter next year for the same reason, regardless of record.
After that? Well, Jameis will have ‘matured into the NFL’ by then, and a coaching change might not hurt as bad.
All of that said…I like Koetter and believe he will be one of the best coaches we’ve had at this point.
October 20th, 2016 at 2:45 pm
It seems that the Koetter to 49ers “pump fake” was similar to the Raheem to Bronco one in 2008/2009.
October 20th, 2016 at 5:09 pm
And Chip Kelly could have been hired as head coach of the Bucs. Let that sink in for a moment…
October 20th, 2016 at 6:42 pm
Boy, am I glad we have Koetter and not Kelly!!
October 20th, 2016 at 6:52 pm
@Jonbuc that’s a terrible comparison. Raheem was a defensive backs coach with 0 experience in leading a group of men. Whereas Koetter is a proven NFL coordinatior and has had experience at being a Head Coach.
October 20th, 2016 at 6:57 pm
BucsorGtfo Says:
October 20th, 2016 at 6:52 pm
@Jonbuc that’s a terrible comparison. Raheem was a defensive backs coach with 0 experience in leading a group of men. Whereas Koetter is a proven NFL coordinatior and has had experience at being a Head Coach.
Fair points, BorG….my comparison was that the Bucs were afraid to lose both in-house coaches and pulled the trigger accordingly.
October 20th, 2016 at 7:25 pm
Kotter instead of Kelly?…uhf, I’m glad we dodged that bullet.
October 21st, 2016 at 8:43 am
Bucs fans have short memories Kelly had back to back 10 win seasons and nearly won a playoff game. If he did that here he’d have a statue in front of the stadium