Successor On Board
January 18th, 2019
Press conference today.
Last week when Joe was listening to the words of Bucs coordinators Todd Bowles (defense), Keith Armstrong (special teams) and Harold Goodwin (run game), the light bulb went off.
One of these guys will be the next head coach when Bucco Bruce Arians leaves the Bucs for good.
And it wasn’t just Joe. Some Bucs fans listening texted Joe and were thinking the same thing. Each one brought a presence to the podium. Class. Intelligence. An aura of some sort. Confidence.
Look, we all know it is unlikely Arians, 66, finishes out his contract. He signed a four-year pact with Team Glazer. Nothing against Arians, but how many NFL coaches do you know of who were coaching into their 70s? Marv Levy, George Halas?
It wouldn’t shock Joe whatsoever if part of the deal to sign Arians including setting up the Bucs with his successor.
Earlier this week at Shrine Game practices held at the Fruitdome in St. Petersburg, Joe spoke with the “Czar of the Playbook,” Emory Hunt. Part of the CBS Sports family, Hunt is a rising star among #NFLDraftMedia and works on small college broadcasts. Joe threw his observation at Hunt that the next Bucs coach would either be Bowles or Goodwin.
“Or Leftwich,” Hunt said of new Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who will be introduced at a news conference this afternoon.
Joe was taken aback by this but Hunt explained, “He has experience play-calling and at quarterback and look at how the league is going.
“But you are right, I do think out of any of those choices, if and when Arians decided to hang it up, the answer is already in-house and that is how you keep a program going. That’s what the good teams do and I think that’s what the Bucs will do.”
So three or four years from now, provided the Bucs don’t toss cookies on their shoes and remain in Buccaneers Cove (last place in the NFC South), the next head coach is already on Arians’ staff.
Joe strongly encourages readers who like to monitor the draft to follow Hunt on Twitter or his YouTube.com channel, both of which are full of solid information, player breakdowns and interviews.
January 18th, 2019 at 9:02 am
Just WIN baby
January 18th, 2019 at 9:07 am
Kinda getting ahead of ourselves here…..but likely accurate…..but, if the Bucs are successful, our future may be gone earlier than we would like.
After all, it’s the Bucs……the last successful Buc coach landed a $100m job. although it took him a while.
January 18th, 2019 at 9:08 am
“What does the Tampa Bay Bucs and Kobe Faker have in Common?
We both live in the Basement…
Watcha talkin about Willis…
BA hasnt even coached his first game and we already have Gary Coleman as our Head Coach…
lets first get 10 wins and start sniffing the playoffs”
Kobe Faker
January 18th, 2019 at 9:10 am
Don’t care about successor when we need Success first !
January 18th, 2019 at 9:11 am
They might become the HC of the Bucs…but will Jameis be their QB ?…..I had a very ugly and depressing thought yesterday, Buc Luck, Jameis gets injured early in the season 2019 and goes on IR…..and the answer to whether Jameis is the long term QB is pushed back in the pit of uncertainty …BucLuck
January 18th, 2019 at 9:14 am
Because the coach in waiting is always a good idea LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When BA gets forced out the new GM will evaluate who the head coach should be!!!!!!!!! If the coach in waiting was really a candidate, then he would be getting interviews for such!!!!!!!!!!
Everything is the answer, until it isn’t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 18th, 2019 at 9:16 am
Out of 100 coaches on the staff, if we win I would think someone would be capable. LOL.
January 18th, 2019 at 9:21 am
Ummm. Let’s first start and see the Bucs take a single snap, win a game, win several games, get results…before we start suggesting the successor is on the coaching staff. Must be a slow week.
January 18th, 2019 at 9:24 am
Uh-h Joe …can we let Coach Arians at least get through his first practice with the Bucs before we start fantasizing about his replacement?
January 18th, 2019 at 9:31 am
@texbuc. FPNI !!! Agreed, that’s the only thing that counts right now. Everything else is pure speculation and BS. It’s only about the next game…..l
January 18th, 2019 at 9:38 am
Didn’t Arians recently tell the Glazer family if the bucs win a championship in his second year he’s retiring? Seems that Tampa is his last “Hurrah” to earn a championship as a HC.
January 18th, 2019 at 9:42 am
Slow news day to be talking about this nonsense. Three or four years down the road. Hell some of these assistants may be HC somewhere else before then.
January 18th, 2019 at 9:50 am
If we have two good years, goodwin, bowles and leftwich will all be headcoaches in year 3 with one of them staying as bucs hc.
January 18th, 2019 at 10:08 am
given the fact the Glazers own the team, having a succession plan in place is essential since Arians might not make it to week 8 this year with this circus.
January 18th, 2019 at 10:22 am
Hopefully, Leftwich is a wunderkind of some sort and in a couple years is the hot candidate and that’s when Arians sits down. As Leftwich is very young, this would be ideal. Bowles had his shot and wasn’t successful so he may be our DC for the next 10 seasons before he gets a shot.
Above all else, I just hope Arians is successful because if he isn’t or he goes all Jeff Tedford on us, none of this will matter.
January 18th, 2019 at 10:22 am
If the next Buccaneers HC is not already on staff we are in for a very very long decade.
January 18th, 2019 at 10:39 am
Damn Joe, you are putting one foot in the grave already for Arians. Lots of people in high powered positions work into their 70s. I will grant you though that it may be time at that point to hang it up. I mean we have a president in his 70s and he clearly does not seem to have all his wits about him based on his twitter feed alone. Unlike that dude though, I kind of hope Arians succeeds and wants to stick around for 10 years.
January 18th, 2019 at 10:54 am
Geez, Joe, talk about putting the cart before the horse!!!!!!!!! Bucs just hired BA and they’re getting all his staff on board. Didn’t he coach Larry Fitzgerald and the other wideout with the broken/stitched up face? The talent here is what attracted BA–that and Licht smelling out UDFAs, etc. Looking forward to the fall.
January 18th, 2019 at 11:01 am
I dont see how any fan can see this all happening and not feel excited for 2019 and years to come.
The hype is real
January 18th, 2019 at 11:22 am
After the lost decade they hand the offense to Byron Leftwich and a vacationing Arians. I’m sure everyone can see the fan’s hesitation. Anyone all on board is simply running on hope. Leftwich has basically no experience as an OC/Coach and Arizona dumped him for a reason. I fail to see the advantage. Is Leftwich more experienced than Koetter at calling plays? Certainly not. This is a step down no matter how you look at it. Arians is old so who is below him is important. I don’t want to wait for Leftwich to learn on the job. Is that what the fans deserved after watching this crap show for a decade? This team needed an established offense with an established leader. We are back to square one and the excuse train is being loaded as we speak. Just one more year! We need to next six games to see what we have BS. This team is never short on excuses as they have mastered mediocrity.
January 18th, 2019 at 11:25 am
Can someone get him a buc hat…
January 18th, 2019 at 11:30 am
Who cares about the successor at this point, if they lose no one will be here and somehow the talk is like they can’t lose games and he will be a success. People would like to see it first before all this back to the future talk
January 18th, 2019 at 11:33 am
One game at a time Joe.
January 18th, 2019 at 11:48 am
I was very impressed with Goodwin’s PC. He was talking like he already was the head coach. I am extremely excited about the new staff!
January 18th, 2019 at 12:37 pm
It’s an interesting idea, think I’d rather go with Goodwin out of all the options for potential successors but maybe Leftwich will turn into something special here. Crazier things have happened.
January 18th, 2019 at 12:39 pm
I did this article a week ago on JBF’s message board. 4 potential successors to BA on staff if things go well. Leftwich, Goodwin, Bowles and maybe Armstrong.
* Leftwich live presser at 1pm.
January 18th, 2019 at 12:56 pm
Yeah Leftwich was the most intriguing guy to me of the staff since he’s more of an up and coming unknown.
I could give 2 sh1ts about how good he was as a player. Has nothing to do with being a good coach. If anything good players are bad coaches a lot of the time and vice versa
January 18th, 2019 at 1:48 pm
Let’s just wait and see how this staff does before we start deciding who the heirs are. For all we know, they will fail miserably and we’ll get someone else entirely.
Sorry to be a downer, but this regime will have to prove itself to me before I totally buy in.
January 18th, 2019 at 1:48 pm
I support them. I’m just a bit reserved before I start jumping for joy.
January 18th, 2019 at 2:58 pm
Yeah let’s win with BA first before we start talking about successors.
January 18th, 2019 at 6:19 pm
These articles are hilarious for sure.