Retained Bucs Coaches Fit Koetter Mold
January 7th, 2016
Defensive line coach Joe Cullen still has a job
Joe’s been around enough Bucs happenings and practices to know Dirk Koetter is a straight shooter, a passionate guy who, while not a frequent screamer, will show his emotion to a player.
Per various sources, only two Bucs defensive assistant coaches remain (for now), defensive line coach Joe Cullen and linebackers coach and Bucs icon Hardy Nickerson. Both are extremely passionate coaches with an in-your-face streak.
These coaches are very much in the Dirk Koetter mold, but more importantly, they are general manager Jason Licht kind of guys.
So perhaps these Licht guys (hey, Licht made the call on keeping them) are a window into Licht wanting Koetter to be the next Bucs head coach.
January 7th, 2016 at 4:29 pm
I’m really glad to hear about Nickerson! Guy is a warrior!
January 7th, 2016 at 4:31 pm
As many have already said it’s Koetter’s job to lose. I would be surprised if they picked someone else.
January 7th, 2016 at 4:32 pm
Cullen should be fired too.
Happy about Nickerson, especially after WDAE had a news break that accidently claimed he was fired too.
January 7th, 2016 at 4:34 pm
I think Licht is sending a message to the next head coach….”I like these guys…so think hard before you fire them”….I also think it’s another indication that Koetter could be the HC…
Let’s face it….it was easier to fire Lovie knowing we had a good candidate in house….
January 7th, 2016 at 4:40 pm
Does this mean the cursing jar is gone? I say let the *&@##$&&#’s fly!!
January 7th, 2016 at 4:40 pm
Lol after next season you fools will be running off the next coach lol
Oh the bumbling carousel known as the Tampa bay Browns lol
January 7th, 2016 at 4:47 pm
there are a lot of good OCs that could have done what dk did this year. I like dk but he is not ready to be a head coach and no one else is going to hire him over haley, hue, mcdaniels, ect… When he was fired last year, there was no one thought of him as a head coach. Jameis is good and would have been just as good in some other offenses too. I guess if you are judging dk against marcus aryo, then yes dk is the greatest that has ever lived.
January 7th, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Mike, I don’t know why you think Dirk isn’t ready to be a HC. It’s not like this is his first OC gig and he isn’t exactly a young pup. All head coaches get their start somewhere. Please explain.
January 7th, 2016 at 4:55 pm
When are we ever gonna catch a break?
January 7th, 2016 at 4:58 pm
Dirk is a good OC. Keep him the OC. Hire a real Head Coach who knows football, not just offense.
January 7th, 2016 at 4:59 pm
@mike
Dirk had the 7th ranked offense in the nfl. He did that with a rookie QB, two OL rookies, 2 previously unemployed OL, and 2 undrafted WRs filling in for a #1 and #3.
Dirk has proven he can get the most out of the personnel he has. Please try to form a coherent argument with evidence instead of talking out of your @$$.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:00 pm
If koetter wanted to be the HC and hand over all offensive duties to an OC, would be ok with that. I dont like seeing he HC calling plays.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:03 pm
I was listening to siriusXM his morning and Alterraun Verner was being interviewed. He had an interesting take on his thoughts of dirk koetter possibly being the HC. He basically said he knows nothing about Dirk. He had no relationship with any of the defenders and he really didnt know the guy. He almost made it seem like he didn’t like the idea of koetter getting the promotion in tampa.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:04 pm
I’ve never questioned the last three ‘firings’ (understood completely why), but I have always questioned those ‘hires’ to begin with!
January 7th, 2016 at 5:06 pm
Yeah Tru…..forget that the Packer offense was great when MM was calling the plays…not so much with someone else. And no reason Koetter can’t do what many of the great ones do….Call the O play, hire a new talented OC in waiting, then hire an excellent D Coordinator, make him responsible for the D, and make him do his job.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:06 pm
The offense failed heavily when we didnt have jackson. You can’t honestly say humpheries or Dye Jr stepped up and made any real pact. A catch or 2 per game is not a big step up. 20th in ppg is nothing to get excited about.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:08 pm
Mike mccarthy is currently calling the packers offense. Has been most of the season. And it has been struggling mightily with him doing it. Try again.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:10 pm
I don’t think Verner was listening to any of the coaches.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:15 pm
Pete carrol, bill belicheat, marvin lewis, jeff fisher, mike tomlin, john harbaugh, chuck pagano, ron rivera, tom coughlin. Coaches that run fairly successful teams while not being the play callers.
Mike mccarthy made the right decision to give up play calling because he knew it took away from his head coaching responsibilties. but when the offense struggled he took it back. unfortunately after he took over the Packers offense, his team has a losing record.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:15 pm
None of the Bucs offensive coaches were let go. (Not yet anyway). At least three of them are very close to Lovie he brought them from Chicago: Embry, Hays-Stoker and Tim Spencer.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:18 pm
Head coach has enough stuff to deal with, he should not be the OC or DC too. The only time a head coach does it, is when they are desperate. Like Lovie was when he took over the defense. Like McCarthy was when he took over the offense. Like sean Peyton going back and forth with the play calling duties.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:21 pm
Lmao this is why the bucs are the bucs lol
All you idiots that wanted LOVIE gone will be running the next coach out of town after next season lol
January 7th, 2016 at 5:40 pm
@Trubucfan22 … ‘Head coach has enough stuff to deal with, he should not be the OC or DC too.’
Agree 100%. Great teams always seem to have great coaches on both sides of the ball, and not just the DC and OC. They train-up assistant coaches for the future, just like any winning organization does. Last Bucs coach to do a great job of that was Tony Dungy … on the defensive side of the ball only unfortunately.
Good chance I’m wrong (this is the Bucs), but I have a feeling that Dirk Koetter won’t get the HC job. If the Bucs are out looking, doesn’t sound like they’re 100% convinced that he’s the long-term answer to our Bucs HC coaching woes.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:46 pm
@TheKevin … I thought that Lovie should’ve been given one more year also. He had little choice but to go all-offense in the draft 2 years in a row (Bucs were really that bad on offense), and fixing a defense exclusively through FA is near impossible (not enough quality FAs out there). Team did show improvement and he should’ve been given one more draft … focusing exclusively on defense … to turn that side of the team around. But if he was insistent on keeping the same secondary coaches then he really did need to go. They were bad.
January 7th, 2016 at 5:53 pm
hire Koetter because he has a “personality” go right ahead… didn’t know being a rah rah kinda guy made you a better a coach… they weren’t saying that when morris was here being rah rah though was saying the opposite LOL oh well, welcome to Cleveland Browns South
January 7th, 2016 at 6:01 pm
I don’t know. We’ve tried Morris and Schiano with no NFL HC experience. How did that work out? DK did a great job as OC but HC is a leap and I’m leery. I give the Glazers credit for making the change and courage for considering DK given the failure of the other two and the availability of recently fires HC’s.
I’m torn on this.
January 7th, 2016 at 6:02 pm
why does everyone think Koetter would want the job? He may know enough about the Bucs to want to work for a smarter owner.
January 7th, 2016 at 6:11 pm
Koetter as HC/OC. Schiano as DC. He’s still on the payroll right?
January 7th, 2016 at 6:18 pm
Insult to Browns fans. The Browns were actually better than the Bucs.
January 7th, 2016 at 6:27 pm
I think this is a very prudent decision by the Glazers.
Dirk is almost guaranteed to be the Bucs Head Coach.
The offense went from last to fifth in the league.
The defense numbers look ok but the Bucs were 27th in points allowed and were one of the top 10 penalized teams in NFL history
January 7th, 2016 at 6:54 pm
Had some time to think it over…. Still think coughlin is our best bet.
Im intrigued by Hue Jackson also. He has experience. I just wonder if he would call plays or not. If he hired a reputable OC I would seriously think about him. He has a great personality and is an inspirational leader type of coach.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:38 pm
@gengis… Actually we were 22nd offense in scoring with solid o line , and the best rb in the game. Plenty of weapons. Dk is good no doubt. But we weren’t the greatest show on turf. Did you watch the colts, Giants, Rams, bears, panthers game. Take away the phily game and we were about average
January 7th, 2016 at 7:58 pm
What do all these head coaches have in common?
Bruce Arians
Chuck Pagano
Sean Payton
Mike Tomlin
Mike McCarthy
Ron Rivera
Todd Bowles
Bill O’Brien
Non had previous head coaching experience. Please stop using it as a requirement for a good head coach.
January 7th, 2016 at 7:59 pm
Happy about the coaches they let go and the ones they keep. I really hope Koetter is given the job bofore someone else snatches him up. If they do hire him, he will be the first HC hire I have wanted to see since Gruden left, and I will bet he will be the start to some continuity around these parts along with our QB and GM.
If they hire koetter, I just hope they don’t hire Mike Smith as DC. The only reason the cleared house in ATL is because the falcons could never get over the hump. They were good but not good enough. And it was ALWAYS because of they’re defense. It will at least be nice to see the offense start scoring some points though.
January 7th, 2016 at 8:04 pm
@ TRU BUC – Just because you have a good OC doesn’t mean you can pair him with any head coach and it will be the same. Sean Payton, McCarthy call plays…and even the head coaches that aren’t calling plays, you can bet they are approving what and what doesn’t go onto that playcard and the ratio of runs/pass.
I will bet big that without love around Koetters playacting becomes less conservative…more like his playacting in Jacksonville and ATL where he was allowed to do his job how HE wanted to. I will bet he also gets better effort out of the players. AND I ALSO bet he doesn’t choose to bench the best corners on the team for a couple never been’s from one of his previous teams because they are really close friends.
January 7th, 2016 at 8:24 pm
Why don’t we bring mike Shula home
January 7th, 2016 at 8:52 pm
This was simple the two best positions on the team LBs and GMC and company this was a no brainer nothing to see here
January 7th, 2016 at 8:56 pm
If they did switch schemes I dont see it hurting to try GMC out at DE. WE have some decent depth at DT
January 7th, 2016 at 10:10 pm
Past HC experience isn’t a requirement. But it certainly a plus. My biggest hope is a head coach who will not be a play caller. I don’t believe the best head coaches are also a play caller. It might make them a heck of an OC or DC. But head coaching is a whole different unique skill set. If the bucs want to do things right and build a lasting dynasty. Then hire a true head coach and not an overpaid overpowered OC or DC. Dirk would be an alright candidate. But if he were to be our head coach I’d like to see him hire an OC that would be the play caller on offense. That’s my only hope. A play caller can’t focus on the rest of the team if he running an offense.
January 8th, 2016 at 1:57 am
If not Dirk, then Josh McDaniels or Tod Haley.
That’s my prediction. I say keep Dirk and bring in a strong DC
January 8th, 2016 at 6:46 am
Fo God’s sake, if Lovie was able to be a head coach-of course Koetter can. It is clear that Koetter was getting pursued and Glazer’s panicked and dumped Lovie–ok-we were not going anywhere with him anyway and next year’s schedule is serious competition. Lovie was unable to stop the knuckleheaded penalties. If he couldn’t even do that how will he get us a winning record next year
January 8th, 2016 at 7:12 pm
Having trouble keeping up. Is Lovie’s kid gone. Man I hope so.