Who Pulls The Trigger?
January 25th, 2014
Bucs fans want to know. They want to know who was responsible for leaky Rip Van Freeman’s meltdown (still a great mystery), who didn’t want Michael Bennett (Greg Schiano), who didn’t want Wallace Gilberry (Schiano); who gave what orders at what time.
Bucs fans demand coaches and front office suits be transparent. Sadly, the Bucs, much like Team Glazer, do not work in the public eye and trying to pin down who exactly wields the power with what decision at what time at the new One Buc Palace (mostly Lovie Smith) is something the Bucs will never fully admit, despite fans desires.
It’s not an unreasonable request for fans who invest so much in their team. But short of a team being run by one man (such as Bill Belicheat with the Patriots), NFL teams rarely if ever let fans behind the curtain.
When pressed for such information, new Bucs general manager Jason Licht dodged the question of who has precisely what power when he met with the Tampa Bay pen and mic club in the Bucs media workroom Thursday. But he did give Bucs fans a peek behind the scenes.
“I really do [think too much is made of the power structure],” Licht said. “I can think of eight teams in the same situation that we are. I don’t want to get into the nuts and bolts of it but [Licht and Lovie] really are a partnership. We work together. If we can’t come to a decision we move on to the next decision.
“He is going to put a lot of trust in me and my staff to come to a consensus. It’s not like Lovie can watch 600 and some players. Coaches can’t watch 600 players. That will be our job. We will weed out the top players. I will tell him who we should draft and [Lovie will] watch him and if he agrees, we will do it.”
Look, Joe has written this time and before. One reason Lovie was hired so quickly was that he got what he wanted: influence and power. Though Lovie has dismissed the power setup, he clearly wanted a guy sitting at the general manager’s desk that he knew he could work with.
Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer all but confirmed this when Joe asked him Thursday how involved Lovie was in the GM interview process, and Glazer told Joe he was very much involved.
Would a coach who did not wield influence be involved in interviews for a new general manager?
In a light moment with reporters, Licht admitted it is written in his contract with Team Glazer who is in charge but he dismissed the clause as trivial, reiterating decisions will be a team effort.
January 25th, 2014 at 9:15 am
I could care less who has what authority on decisions. This is more trumped up media controversy.
Just win Baby!!!
January 25th, 2014 at 9:37 am
Why not give lovie the power. He’s the one that’s puts the gameplan together every so he decides which guys will work in his system. Lichts job is to help find the right guys lovie needs to make it work, and to also manage all the finances so we can keep talent in Tampa.
January 25th, 2014 at 9:38 am
It only matters who has the autority when the decisions are not good. The Glazers will know on every important decision if it was mututal or contested.
I think Licht will prepare the draft board with Lovies input and they will agree on the order of selection….Its difficult when trades are proposed at the last minute…someone has to make the final decision there.
As for Free Agents…..Lovie will probably have even more input.
January 25th, 2014 at 9:40 am
If Licht knows what lovie is drawing up in the film room he knows who and where to scout to fit Lovies system. It’s perfect if you ask me. Yes Lovie has final say in it BUT if Licht knows what Lovie wants than this will be the beginning if a great relationship between them. A relationship that will bring a championship caliber team back to Tampa
January 25th, 2014 at 9:42 am
I agree with BigMac, what real business is it of ours to know the exact power structure of this privately owned team. Whether the Glazers, or Smith, or Licht make the final decisions is of no consequence to us as long as they make a collaborated effort to put the best product on the field.
January 25th, 2014 at 9:57 am
GM should make final calls on all players. If Lovie (if that’s his real name) didn’t want G.McCoy on his 53 then the Licht should be able to override the HC.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:01 am
Who let George Selvie get away without so much as smelling OBP
January 25th, 2014 at 10:03 am
Now that Laughing Stock II is over and I like Licht and Lovie together I could care less about who has the power. I’m with BIGMACATTCK ~ Just win baby!!!
January 25th, 2014 at 10:05 am
Also if Lovie is terrible and the team doesn’t improve, Licht can say he didn’t hire him and survive the house cleaning like M. Dominik.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:29 am
People would like to say a coach is good or bad at selecting players, or a GM is, but there’s a crazy high amount of random chance that happens with players. To give an analogy, if you’re in a pool to pick win/lose for each week of the NFL season, you know that you can get the line on the games and see who the winning teams are supposed to be. But if you pick all the favored teams, you have almost no chance of winning the pool that week, because every single week there are upsets. A GM/Coach that only goes for “safe picks” will do terribly over the long run. Besides, you only need so many offensive linemen.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:31 am
The fact that no one named Schiano or Dominik will be pulling the trigger gives us a much greater chance at success.
Good times ahead, can’t wait.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:32 am
@joseph mamma
that is funny. M. Dominik aka ” The Coach Slayer”.
Joe for 2 guys that will be in contact with each other every day, I do not see why Lovie would not be in the meeting. The only way one would not be in the meeting is if they worked together before in the same capacity.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:37 am
I think coaches should have final say over the final 53 man roster. The gm should be the guy that works with scouts and brings in the players that work with the coaches scheme. The best 90 man roster into training camp. Then it’s the coaches job to weed out the rest day after day to the final 53. The gm isn’t the guy consistently working with these players.
Look at Dom. Myron Lewis should have been cut after year 2. How he made it that long only seems to me was “3rd round pick that he wanted to get out of”. Reason why schiano and Raheem kept benching him. Benn? Same issue.
There’s a reason Teo Neishem started over bowers. Bowers sucked and obvious schiano didn’t like him.
January 25th, 2014 at 10:49 am
Barry Says
“If Lovie (if that’s his real name)…”
Not a long-time Bucs fan, I take it? His real name is Lovie Lee Smith, named after an aunt or something.
So its a girls nam, lol.
January 25th, 2014 at 11:26 am
1. Lovie will have the final say on the draft board.
2. Joe, regarding Bennett, I’ve heard that it was Coach Schiano that wanted Bennett but the Glazers themselves did not for whatever reason. As far as the Coach Schiano/Bowers “10 sack prediction”, that’s called setting a goal and motivation.
January 25th, 2014 at 11:36 am
Who cares? Just win. But let’s not expect a Chiefs-like turnaround until the Bucs pull off an Alex Smith-type trade. And keep in mind, every need the Bucs have (edge rusher, WR depth, DB depth) is needed by many other teams too. Lots of competition for players.
January 25th, 2014 at 11:38 am
who was responsible for leaky Rip Van Freeman’s meltdown? (still a great mystery)
No mystery at all, the person responsible was JFRO-6pak.
January 25th, 2014 at 1:55 pm
This is really such a non issue. Who has the final say in anything is something that those two men and the ownership should be worried about. I know people want to know so they can point fingers when things go wrong and second guess every move that is made. That’s what happens I guess when we’ve been losing this long. I really think we’re back on track this year going forward and it’s not going to be about who to blame anymore.
January 25th, 2014 at 2:44 pm
joe why you hate lovie so much.
Ridiculous question. Joe likes Lovie. –Joe
January 25th, 2014 at 2:52 pm
After listening to the Bucs brass (Owner & GM) this is definitely Lovie’s ship. And I’m good with that. It works in Seattle & New England
January 25th, 2014 at 4:24 pm
Meh…