Coaching Coaches
January 31st, 2019
A Super Bowl head coach weighs in
Bruce Arians is no Dirk Koetter.
Yes, Arians will let his assistant coaches coach and discipline. Koetter did to that to the extreme — often to the detriment of the team. But Joe is confident what will be different now is Arians will be a powerful unifying voice over the roster, whereas Koetter was not.
The handpicked Arians staff is all geared toward them knowing what he wants so the team can hit the ground running from Day 1. These coaches have been coached and/or mentored by Arians, many for years. It’s a giant difference between Koetter bringing in some of his buddies, hanging on to Lovie Smith hires and following a plan.
Arians will coach his staff, as well as the players.
Super Bowl winning coach Brian Billick made that point this week on WDAE-AM 620.
“He’s at the point where you actually spend more time coaching coaches than you do players sometimes, and that’s not a bad thing,” Billick said. “It keeps everybody on the same page. I think the staff they put together has been excellent.”
Billick noted this will free Arians to keep his focus on the quarterback position, where Billick said Arians will make sure the Jameis Winston-Byron Leftwich dynamic is “structured properly” with Arians always at the ready to jump in.
The more Joe studies Arians, the more Joe believes the timing of his hire was nearly perfect when you factor in the roster and the approach of previous regimes.
January 31st, 2019 at 2:50 pm
Bring on the Ira podcast Joe! My listless day can speed up with your help lol!
January 31st, 2019 at 2:57 pm
Excited for free agency (even if we only get a few guys), cutting ties with the Allen Iverson (Practice?) of the NFL, the draft, and our 2019 season!!
January 31st, 2019 at 3:02 pm
for once billick may be right……
because he was dead wrong about his buddy smitty….lol…
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!
January 31st, 2019 at 3:24 pm
Nothing organizationally better than the ability to delegate!
This take a confident man at the top, and worthy assistants who are getting responsibility delegated to them. Given their history with Arians, some of them decades, some played for him, I think Arians is well aware of what they can handle.
And this takes care of another requirement for all good managers regardless of the field. I was always taught when I was in management that one of my critical responsibilities was grooming my replacement. Arians has this covered as well.
It’ll be interesting to see if we can determine who might be the heir apparent…seems like Bowles might be the favorite but if Leftwich turns Jameis into a star he might enter the competition.
January 31st, 2019 at 3:28 pm
Looking back on history since Chucky got fired our issues of this decade of losing truly can be payed at the feet of the Glazers for all the weak coaching hires. I can see gutting the roster after Chucky and hiring a first time coach for all young players but not twice in a row with Schiano. I didn’t think the Lovie hire would be that awful but sticking with Koetter was what drove me crazy. By far the most talented roster especially on offense in the franchise history and he can’t do anything in the win loss column which makes him the weakest. Koetter lost me long before he made stupid comments showing he knew nothing about being a head coach and only knew how to be a coordinator
January 31st, 2019 at 3:28 pm
Is there something in the air of Tampa that debilitates players from USC?
Stevie T., Ronald Jones, starting to think Licht needs to stay away from any player from USC.
@JOE. Waiting for an article on the salary cap hell the Bucs are in. Licht is going to have to do something and it will be interesting to see what it is he does.
January 31st, 2019 at 4:02 pm
GhostofSchiano Says:
January 31st, 2019 at 3:28 pm
@JOE. Waiting for an article on the salary cap hell the Bucs are in. Licht is going to have to do something and it will be interesting to see what it is he does.
I’m also waiting for this……this impacts the entire team to a very large extent.
It is certainly more important than endless repetitive articles about Djax….
As far as BA……I think much is lost by focusing on his influence alone…..Tod Bowles will make the greatest impact because it is the Defense that needs the most improvement.
January 31st, 2019 at 4:02 pm
8-9 months with no Buc football means the fans hope season is long and boring
Convince me in September that hiring a qb whisperer who stopped calling plays is a good move
Can’t bash Koetter for hiring his buddies when that’s Arians has done
January 31st, 2019 at 4:10 pm
@TampabayBucsfan
This is concerning to me considering all the needs the team has –
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/tampa-bay-buccaneers/cap/
January 31st, 2019 at 4:21 pm
@GHOSTOFSCHIANO … “Waiting for an article on the salary cap hell the Bucs are in. Licht is going to have to do something and it will be interesting to see what it is he does.” That’s actually quite humorous Ghost. Licht do something about it? You do realize i hope that he’s the one WHO PUT US INTO SALARY CAP HELL, don’t you? We were in great shape (in terms of salary CAP) BEFORE last year when Licht realized how badly he’d screwed up the defensive roster & needed to add some offense pieces. Then wham, bam … JPP ($15.5 mil average salary), Curry ($7.6 mil), Allen ($5 mil), Unrein ($3.5 mil), Grimes ($7.0 mil), Gholston ($5.5 mil), plus ME13 ($16.5 mil), Marpet ($10.8 mil), Jensen ($10.5 mil), Brate ($6.8 mil). Didn’t take long to eat through almost all of our salary CAP ‘excess’ & go from near the top of the barrel to very near the bottom. But that OK, we got a 5-11 record to show for it so we’re good.
January 31st, 2019 at 5:16 pm
“Bruce Arians is no Dirk Koetter.”
THANK YOU JESUS!!
January 31st, 2019 at 5:24 pm
And yet AGAIN, we have hope for the future. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Go Bucs!
January 31st, 2019 at 5:57 pm
YES JOE % AGREE! Arians inhereting Jameis going into his 5th year os ideal rather than inhereting a rookie.
Jameis is going to SHRED the league next season , damn I cant wait!!!!!!!
January 31st, 2019 at 6:03 pm
Yes okay joe agree with you 100% on this article and am actually enlightened
Bill Belichick is the greatest Head Coach of all time because he coaches not players, but Coaches to be the greatest of all time
Thanks for revealing the secret sauce
January 31st, 2019 at 6:10 pm
Defense Rules Says: You do realize i hope that he’s the one WHO PUT US INTO SALARY CAP HELL, don’t you? We were in great shape (in terms of salary CAP) BEFORE last year when Licht realized how badly he’d screwed up the defensive roster & needed to add some offense pieces.
YES I DO. Which is why I am very interested to see what happens next…..
It is obvious he must cut or restructure some contracts (GMC?) to fill the holes on this roster. Do the Glazers put him on a budget? Do the Glazers get involved at all? Do the Glazers write him a blank check? etc.etc.
January 31st, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Ya I agree, Joe. Arians does look like a perfect hire for this team.
Arians had me at: “The scheme we play is that which best fits the strength of our players”
Well Hallelujah!!!!!! It’s about dam time someone came in with that mindset!
January 31st, 2019 at 6:49 pm
CUT GMC- $13M
CUT DJAX- $10M
CUT BEAU ALLEN- $5M
CUT D DOTSON- $4.8 M
CUT GHOLSTON- $3.7M
CUT UNREIN- $3.7 M
CUT EVAN SMITH- $2M
TOTAL: $42.2 M + AVAIL CAP (11.3M)= $53.3M
I dont see where the problem is? None of these players produce or live up to their contract?
GMC- $13m for 6 sacks?
DJAX- $10M to a diva who wants to destroy a possible franchise QB?
Beau Allen- $5M no sacks?
D Dotson- $4.8M I feel for ya brothaa but them knees weak
Gholston- $3.7 M for a single sack?
Unrein- $3.7M Who? Almost 4 mil for player that never seen the field
Evan Smith- $2M Backup…
The key here is to DEVELOP players. Something that Raheem + Schiano + Lovie+ Dirk could never do. Successful teams develop players and then let them walk in free agency for other teams to pay them. Is BA capable of doing this? I hope so. If not, Mike Evans’ career will be wasted here to. As far as salary cap… again, I don’t see how we are in salary cap “hell”
January 31st, 2019 at 6:53 pm
Can’t wait to see which players get traded or released. What FA are signed or traded for. The draft. Time seems to be dragging by.
January 31st, 2019 at 7:29 pm
WWRPD?
What Would Ray Perkins Do? With Arians deep ties to the Perkster, that’s what we should all be asking!
Anywho what Ray Perkins did do was draft Keith McCants over Junior Seau and traded for Gary Anderson just before the draft when everyone had us pegged to draft Emmitt Smith. He also traded a 1st rounder (ended up being #2 overall) to the Colts for Chris Chandler, who apparently loved cruising the USF parking lot in a convertible looking for chicks (not that I wouldn’t have done the same).
But I’m just busting balls, I’m sure Arians won’t be another Perkins.
January 31st, 2019 at 7:53 pm
@GhostofSchiano … ” Do the Glazers put him on a budget? Do the Glazers get involved at all? Do the Glazers write him a blank check?”
Why would the Glazers get involved in doing the work they pay others to do? (And pay them well I’m sure). They hired Bruce Arians to clean up this mess, and clean it up he shall. Jason Licht only needs to remember 2 words IMO if he expects to stay around … YES SIR.
BucThis … Good job freeing up $42 mil. Minor problem: You just did away with all but one of the DTs (GMC, Allen, Unrein), leaving us with 1 rookie. Not to mention that cutting Allen would cost us $1.5 mil dead money, and Unrein would cost us $1 mil dead money. Anywho, replacing those positions costs big $$$, so it’s not REALLY a big salary CAP saving at all.
Better strategy IMO would be to renegotiate GMC’s salary (to say $8 mil, saving $5 mil), cut DJax (saving $10 mil), renegotiate Curry (to say $5 mil, saving $3 mil), cut Unrein (saving $2.75 mil), cut Spence (saving $1.27 mil), cut Dotson (saving $4.73 mil), cut Benenoch (saving $.7 mil), cut Bullough (saving $.65 mil), cut Stevie T (saving $.62 mil). That totals to very close to $29 mil savings, and when added to our roughly $16 mil CAP space we’d have $45 mil to play with. Of course with that amount (to cover FA and the draft) we need 1 LT, 1 LG, 1 RT, 2 RB, 1 slot WR, 2 DLinemen (scheme dependent), 2 LBs, 1 CB, 1 Safety, 1 Kicker.
And personally I’d keep Evan Smith. His contract is only for $2.0 mil and he’s experienced at playing Center & Guard (as well as RT in a pinch).
January 31st, 2019 at 8:14 pm
People seem to forget that after Chucky the Glazers MASSIVE investment in Man U. had a dramatic effect on the Bucs and their budgets. Can you say Raheem Morris? And I’m a Raheem fan but the only reason he became the HC is Man U.
We can carp and gripe about that but the Glazers are smart businessmen. When they bought ManU they were overleveraged at a time when the global financial markets tanked and the Glazers had serious cash flow problems. Hence all the budget cutting with the Bucs.
Give them credit though they pulled it all out and the entire extended family is now fabulously wealthy. Can we really say we wouldn’t have done the same thing? We don’t get upset with wealthy players getting the very most they can why should we resent owners/businessmen maximizing their profit?
Man U is now the second most valuable franchise in the world according to Forbes….trailing only the Cowboys.
Rank Team Value
1 Dallas Cowboys $4.80 billion
2 Manchester United $4.12 billion
3 Real Madrid $4.09 billion
4 Barcelona $4.06 billion
Meanwhile the Bucs while very successful are worth less than half of ManU at slightly less than 2 Billion.
The Bucs are the 28th most valuable team in the league again according to Forbes a respected business magazine.
It’s just bizness guys. That at least explains Raheem and Schiano two guys who were hired on the cheap as was Koetter.
I do not know how much BA is going to earn but I suspect the Glazers did not get him on the cheap. ManU is now a cash cow and the Bucs are turning in some serious jack as well. Now the Glazers can afford to hire “professional” coaches.
January 31st, 2019 at 9:38 pm
Playoffs….this year hopefully, but next season fo sho!
February 1st, 2019 at 10:14 am
If only those of you in Tampa knew what those of us out here in Phoenix know about BA. It’s a hype hire – nothing more – and disappointment will be all the greater for it.
February 1st, 2019 at 11:02 am
Phoenix is just ticked that BA didn’t come back to the Cardinals! Licht did not put us in Cap Hell. He is the one who insisted on limiting guaranteed money in contracts for Free Agents. That is what allows us to recover a lot of our cap by cutting those who don’t produce and restructure those that still have value but didn’t produce enough for their salary. That would be GMC, Dotson (who can be a backup and mentor), and Curry (to be the backup to Nassib). We also need to make a good offer to Humphries to thank him for his production last year. If he leaves for more money ok but he may also see BA will transform the Bucs into winners and he may want to be a part of that! Licht brought us BA so be thankful we have Licht. You know BA will advise him on who he should choose in the draft and who to hire in Free Agency so we can be secure in counting on Licht now. Also our new Coaches can develop players quickly so we don’t have to get all our OL and DL in the first round to be successful. They also will be able to convert Spence to a Strong Side LB who can be important in blitz packages to get to QBs quickly which is important to get sacks and turnovers.