The Rams, The Bucs And Schiano
December 14th, 2016
Did the Rams aid the Bucs in hiring Greg Schiano?
Joe likes a good story and solid dot-connecting like any fan does.
To Joe, there was a very interesting if not an enlightening item about the inner workings of coach hiring in the NFL. The dots of two NFL executives and a coaching candidate, though not connected have Joe believing there was a clear connection between the Rams, the Bucs and the hiring of former Bucs commander Greg Schiano.
In his weekly mailbag on theMMQB.com, airline-napping, steerage-flying, Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal picture-taking, video game-playing, Taylor Swift-listening, pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame, goes deep into the Rams’ hiring process for Jeff Fisher back in 2012.
It just so happened that at the same time the Rams were looking for a coach, so too were the Bucs. And the guy leading the Rams’ coaching search then is now running their search now, as they just fired overrated double-talker Jeff Fisher. That man is also a former Bucs executive, Kevin Demoff.
Joe will let King throw the dots on the table.
But early in the 2012 process, club COO Kevin Demoff, who ran that coaching search and will run this one, flew from St. Louis to Newark, rented a car and drove to central New Jersey to meet surreptitiously with Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. For hours Demoff debriefed Schiano, and he was careful to not fall too much in love with a coach no one had on the NFL radar. But when he left Schiano that night, Demoff was convinced he had the stuff to be hired as an NFL coach. The Rams did get their number one choice, Fisher, on Jan. 17, 2012. But had Fisher said no, it’s very possible Schiano would have been the Rams’ pick. Turns out the secret didn’t stay secret for long: Tampa Bay, where Demoff had worked for four seasons before the Rams, hired Schiano exactly one week after the Rams got Fisher.
When Demoff was with the Bucs, Bruce Almighty was the general manager. Bruce Almighty had two confidants, two right-hand men if you will: Demoff handled the financial side of football operations. He wrote contracts. The football side of things were handled for Allen by former Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, then the team’s pro player personnel director.
Before this story was typed by King, Joe knew Dominik and Demoff were close and kept a strong professional relationship after Demoff took a promotion with the Rams in St. Louis (yes, smart alecks, Joe knows the Rams are in Los Angeles, but when Demoff took the gig with the Rams, they were housed in St. Louis).
While Joe is a burning-bush kinda guy, Joe can also read tea leaves.
The fact a former Bucs executive (Demoff) who remained tight with the guy who ran the Bucs football operations (Dominik) first interviewed Schiano for an NFL gig, and then, after Demoff passed, the Rutgers coach was hired a week later by Demoff’s former team and colleague (Dominik), well, it simply is too obvious to Joe to be a coincidence.
Joe doesn’t believe in coincidences.
NFL folks talk to each other. A lot. These guys don’t live in vacuums in their respective cities. NFL types are sort of in their own fraternity or an extended family.
Part of a coaching search is serious research, meaning calling around to other teams for information if not advice. Happens regularly. To Joe, it is clear Demoff tipped off Dominik that he was impressed by Schiano and advised Dominik to chat with Schiano before pulling the trigger on another coaching candidate.
In Joe’s eyes, Demoff was critical to Schiano coming to Tampa Bay.
December 14th, 2016 at 11:37 am
Don’t get me wrong, we are not where we are now if we don’t fire Schiano. But I believe he was shown the door to soon. But it all comes down to having a QB. And we all had our fingers crossed that JF5 would continue to mature. Didn’t happen, JF5’s meltdown changed the future of the Bucs for the better.
December 14th, 2016 at 11:44 am
Glad we’ve got the coaches we have and are on the verge of turning things around in Tampa, but I am convinced a third Schiano year would have gotten us to playoff relevance two years ago. Things usually seem to happen for a reason though, so it was probably better to endure the two years of LSmith futility to get some of the guys we did in the draft. We are building a team that should be good for a few years going forward.
December 14th, 2016 at 11:48 am
I agree R.O., to me he was fired too soon. He ended up being the scapegoat for a lot of BS in my opinion.
I wish Coach Schiano well. He might be just what the Rams need; a swift kick in the butt!
December 14th, 2016 at 11:52 am
Joe doesn’t believe in coincidences.
Gibbs Rule 39
December 14th, 2016 at 11:54 am
Pretty much agree R.O and Bucsfanman , but there was never a connection in between coach Schiano and the players…….and on every single sport, when that happens, coach is out…….
December 14th, 2016 at 11:56 am
Highly doubtful Coach Schiano will go to the Rams. I wonder who the Rams will hire, since Harbaugh has made it clear he plans to stay at Michigan.
Maybe Gruden, since he was so in love with Jared Goff ?
December 14th, 2016 at 11:58 am
“Gibbs Rule 39”? I hate to sound dumb, but please elaborate.
December 14th, 2016 at 11:59 am
So the guy who thought that Jeff Fisher & Greg Schiano were going to be amazing in the NFL; is the same guy picking their next coach?
lol
That franchise totally sh1t the bed man. They had more draft picks than anyone for 3 years and didn’t do sh1t with it.
December 14th, 2016 at 12:01 pm
Bucsfanman
Dumb TV Show Reference. Leroy Jethro Gibss character NCIS has a list of rules
I binged watched the series a few years ago. I found the rule references funny for some reason… It later became a office drinking game anytime a rule was referenced we drank.
http://ncis.wikia.com/wiki/Gibbs's_Rules
December 14th, 2016 at 12:08 pm
Schiano was not built for the NFL. That has always been my opinion.
1st year as head coach, we finished 1-5 after starting off 6-4. Our wins were against some pretty terrible teams that year; and we got blown out hardcore against any good team.
2nd year as head coach the team quit on him. Josh Freeman lost it. Mike Glennon wasn’t good enough to really make up for it. The defense sucked and regressed. We started that year 0-9. We had 4 wins with 3 of them coming against other terrible teams. We finished the year losing our last 3 games by an average of 18 points. What a sign of progress lmfao
I’ll never understand the logic of thinking he should have gotten a 3rd year.
He sucked. The results were terrible. Players regressed under him. We got blown out in games as much if not more so than when we had Lovie Smith. He never made any improvements or adjustments to the team. I think people just liked that he yelled at players and was tough; but that didn’t do sh1t for winning.
Honestly the biggest takeaway when I look back at the 2012-2015 seasons is how easy our schedules looked compared to now. We played like 1/2 our games against bad teams. There was less parity back then; with more mediocre and bad teams than there are now.
December 14th, 2016 at 12:16 pm
2nd year as head coach the team quit on him.
Because the face of the franchise and leader of team QUIT…. Can’t have one without the other. He cried about Mr. Meanie and they gave him Mr. Softee neither worked out. Now Ayers comes to town and the team plays with effort and heart that’s leadership. GMC never has had a lot of talent around him but that is no excuse for lack of effort and a supposed team leader to let others quit is shameful.
December 14th, 2016 at 12:25 pm
I contribute year 2 more towards the Froman meltdown and MRSA than I do anything else tmax. The records don’t say so, but I felt like we were trending upward before ISH went sideways Lord C. I agree that he may not have been ready for the NFL.
December 14th, 2016 at 12:26 pm
@ lord
My thoughts exactly. He was in essence responsible for two horrible hires all in the same year. I would not want that on my resume. To those who say schiano was fired too soon, do you not forget half the lockerroom hated him? Do you remember michael bennett? You can’t win in the nfl when half the team does not believe in the coach. Do you remember even mccoy had to have a one on one to question how he was being used? Schiano had to go period.
December 14th, 2016 at 12:46 pm
This just make Dominik look even worse as a front office guy
December 14th, 2016 at 1:01 pm
Maybe Schiano would get another HC gig if he changed his mind about attacking victory formations. I don’t think he got fired too soon because of how his first and especially second year finished, some players quit on him, some publicly called him out. Bucs played good the first game of Schianos second season against the jets, game the lost because of David’s late hit out of bounds. After that the team started regressing, they didn’t win the first game until late in the season and the billboards kept calling for his head. Ownership didn’t have a choice but to make changes, not to mention that Schiano got repeatedly out coached.
December 14th, 2016 at 1:02 pm
This story reminds me of the saying “the blind leading the blind”
December 14th, 2016 at 1:11 pm
I think Schiano clearly deserves another chance at head coach in the NFL. A lot of successful coaches flame out in their first jobs. Pete Carroll, Bill Belichek, etc He has talent and the respect of his peers. I thought that he had the Bucs headed in the right direction, but between MRSA, Freeman, Carl Nicks he definitely had some obstacles to overcome. Sometimes coaches and teams are bad fits for reasons of timing more than skill level. I think that was more Schiano’s issue here than anything else. He also didn’t make any friends blowing up victory formations.
December 14th, 2016 at 1:16 pm
Schiano coached a good D. If he had a good offensive coordinator like Dirk at the time and didn’t have to deal with MRSA or flaky Josh Freeman, I think he could have been a successful head coach in the NFL. My only complaint about him was blowing up the victory formations. That could have gotten someone hurt.
December 14th, 2016 at 1:17 pm
@ Aguayebrows I read your post right after I posted my comment. We are totally on the same page!
December 14th, 2016 at 1:22 pm
@aguayebrows
“He also didn’t make any friends blowing up victory formations.”
did you know that it has happened 6 times since Coach Schaino was in the league!!!! Funny how it was “bush league” when Coach Schaino did it, and not heard a peep when other coaches do it!!!!!
December 14th, 2016 at 1:27 pm
@Realist- I LOVED when he did that, absolutely loved it!
December 14th, 2016 at 1:38 pm
I had no problem blowing up Victiry formations if you were Down by a TD or less. Doesn’t make sense to not force the other team to snap the ball under duress..
December 14th, 2016 at 1:43 pm
It really was a gut check to the defense!!! Who here wants to play and win some football!!! He was trying to bring the attitude the Ayers Jr is brigning!!!!
December 14th, 2016 at 1:52 pm
HC Musical Chairs: Chucky, Raheem, Schiano, Lovie, DK, all in the span of 7 years. 8-5 right now better guarantee DK that next season he will be our HC. And the season after. Just my $.03.
December 14th, 2016 at 2:42 pm
The best place for “Toes on the Line” to go would be to D.C. to be a part of Trump’s cabinet. The two of them seem made for one another. Hopefully the Donald fares better than “Toes on the Line” did while he was here. Doubtful, but there’s always hope.
I’m just glad we’ve now got Dirk Diggler here in Tampa as our head coach!
December 14th, 2016 at 2:43 pm
“Schiano coached a good D”
wtf?
Are you serious Clark? We had one of the worst defenses in the league under Schiano – both years he coached with no signs of improvement as it regressed over time; leading to losing by almost 20 PPG the final 3 games of december.
I seriously don’t understand any value you guys see in him. He wasn’t even that accomplished of a college coach compared to many others.
If he is ever successful in the NFL it’s because he changed his approach to coaching dramatically.
December 14th, 2016 at 2:54 pm
The victory formation jump was a joke. Just a desperate act of a desperate man imo.
Down 8 with 5 seconds left against the Giants and you’re going to do that sh1t? That just looks like a desperate idiot risking the health of his players.
The last team I can see who did a Schiano was the Rams in a loss against the Lions this year and they injured one of the Lion’s offensive lineman. Looked desperate as all hell and hurt somebody. Great job rams.
It’s a dumb move. The % of success is much less than the % of injury.
December 14th, 2016 at 5:31 pm
Greg Schiano deserved more than 2 years. Imagine if he’d had Lovie’s 2 years as well?
Things may have turned out much different.
That said, We have good coaches now. They better get more than 2 years or I’m done.
December 14th, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Lord Cornelius Says
“The victory formation jump was a joke. Just a desperate act of a desperate man imo.”
And yet….it happens all the time in games now. I saw it in three games last week. This past week, the Saints even tried it on us once.
December 14th, 2016 at 5:37 pm
Lord Cornelius, I think you are misremembering the defensive abilities of the Bucs during those years. Also, keep in mind that Gruden had destroyed much of the team and Raheem finished the job. Schiano needed time to rebuild a team that had no discipline.
Koetter has the benefit that the current team started rebuilding 2-3 years before he became head coach. Good thing too.
December 14th, 2016 at 7:03 pm
Dominik said that the intel came from Demoff all along. This isn’t some great revelation.
December 14th, 2016 at 8:54 pm
I guess that’s another reason to hate the rams.
December 14th, 2016 at 9:13 pm
Demoff is living off his Dad’s deeds ( Marvin Demoff…well respected powerbroker in the NFL…watch Elway to Marino to see what I’m talking about ) more so than Joe Buck is trading off his dad Jack’s name. Joe positive+ may just like the Buck reference. 🙂
December 15th, 2016 at 6:59 am
For what its worth Michael Lombardi said on his Make Me Smarter football podcast that he believes the best candidate for the Rams HC job is Greg Schiano too.
Lombardi generally does know what hes talking about.
December 16th, 2016 at 11:10 am
If Demoff is partly responsible for Schiano coming to Tampa, then let’s hope they hire Schiano in L.A. so he can see that dumpster fire up close and personal.