Thumbs Up On Koetter
February 15th, 2016
A national columnist is very bullish on Dirk Koetter. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
One national voice Joe really respects is Xs and Os guru Andy Benoit of theMMQB.com. If you are unfamiliar with Benoit, during the NFL season he tries to break down every game from a technical (as opposed to an analytical) viewpoint. It’s good stuff.
Benoit’s Twitter feed is one of the best and Joe values it. And when Joe caught up with Benoit in San Francisco, he seemed to be one of the few national scribes eager to give the Bucs a virtual high-five for making Dirk Koetter head coach.
(It is clear that Benoit was outside the clutches of the Lovie Smith Mafia. In recent days, Joe’s piecing together the puzzle of why folks in Bristol employed by the four-letter were so outraged by Lovie’s firing.)
“I like the Koetter hire. A lot,” Benoit said. “I don’t love the politics of it but from a pure football standpoint, he did a sensational job this past year. I think he will be a better head coach and just knowing him and knowing his demeanor, I think he will be a better head coach on the NFL level than he was in college and he was a fine college coach.
“I think it was a move the Bucs had to make if Koetter was getting sniffs from other teams. I don’t know what went into the politics, I truly don’t know. Other teams were sniffing around and if the Bucs felt like they might lose him, then I understand the decision.”
Interesting that Benoit believes Koetter will be a better NFL head coach than he was a solid head coach at Arizona State and Boise State.
Quite a few guys struggled as college coaches but have their busts in Canton. Bill Walsh was just a so-so coach in college (Koetter had a better winning percentage in college) and Bill Parcells had a losing record in the college ranks.
February 15th, 2016 at 6:23 am
How could anyone NOT be excited about the Bucs picking Dirk Koetter as their next head coach? And even more-so after some of the assistant coaches who’ve signed on to coach with him like Mike Smith, Todd Monken and Jay Hayes.
But no matter how good the coaches might be, they still have to have the weapons. Bucs are in a good position from a salary cap perspective, but we’ve been in that position before and made some really bad decisions. Hopefully that’s all in the past, and Jason Licht & Company hit the bulls-eye in free agency and the draft.
February 15th, 2016 at 6:35 am
I agree with Benois, but Licht is going to have to get the defensive talent that our new DC needs to be successful, including a Huge run stopper, and two DEs., along with a top Safety, and another Super WR.
February 15th, 2016 at 6:56 am
I will be very interested by your finds Joe, I will have to match it up with my findings and evidence!!!! Just be careful, The Tampa2 mafia is entrenched in the media!!! Though their army of sheep has greatly diminished!!
There has been much put out about how lovie was “wronged” which simply is not true, Its just funny how the crowd that was the “put your name on it” has turned into the “unnamed source”!!!!!
February 15th, 2016 at 7:29 am
I was in favor of anything that had Lovie leaving.
February 15th, 2016 at 8:12 am
All Lovie did was collect pigeon droppings on the sidelines and think to himself man I suck.
February 15th, 2016 at 8:57 am
There was times I literally thought Dirk was the head coach and Lovie was the Assistan, Lovie literally did zero coaching on Sunday’s.
February 15th, 2016 at 9:08 am
supersam – correct. All lovie did was stare at the review board, looking who to blame for their failures afterwards. Never saw him coaching anyone up, other than the 1 tongue lashing to 92
February 15th, 2016 at 9:16 am
I’d love to hear the logic behind some of these “experts” logic of how Loser Lovie was done wrong here.
8 wins in 2 years, loads of blown leads, clock and game mismanagement, horrible personnel choices and fostering a culture ok with losing don’t add up to someone who deserves the love he gets.
Brooks, booger and Lovies friends in the media need to pay closer attention
February 15th, 2016 at 9:28 am
Lovie’s refusal to change did him in. Incompetence is one thing, and incompetence coupled with refusal to adapt leads to extinction.
The Tampa Two Mafia is wrong on the one. Coach Schiano proved superior in every facet. Imagine if Schiano didn’t have Dominick, but had Licht. No complaints here; Koetter and Jameis are going to make it happen.
February 15th, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Go right ahead and dish out that sweet dessert filling to Koetter. He’s done absolutely NOTHING as a head coach but…Skin and Grin. And from my viewpoint, he has to finish at least 8-8 this upcoming season. Anything less..after all of the..hype and whip cream you fans are giving him..is less than satisfactory. I don’t want to hear these, He inherited this team from Lovie excuses. Wanna win over us thousands of skeptics? WIN. Until then, he’s just another wanna be striving to make us better. Simply put..I’m tired of all of these false hopes and promises. Less verbalization and more implementation is needed.And I..could give less than two thirds of a dham whether you posters here like me or what I’ve said or not. And Just..tus for all!!
February 15th, 2016 at 1:07 pm
@mike johnson
If they are dishing desserts to Coach Koetter, than lovies was a bag of rotten apples!! Lovie owned the cellar of the NFC South and would still be there after the 2016 season. I am all for holding a coaches feet to the fire, but even I let lovie make a mistake first!!
Wish ole mike johnson held lovie to that same standard!!!
What was your old username???
February 15th, 2016 at 1:52 pm
college football success is more about recruiting and ideally having a big school’s name emblazoned on your polo shirt. in the pros, talent parity is more likely, so the ability to get that extra few percent out of a player or implementing and executing a good system are much more central to success than your ability to convince high school kids to take your scholarship over someone else’s
February 15th, 2016 at 2:46 pm
I’ve found that generally the folks that I’ve spoken to who are angry/don’t understand Lovie’s firing are “casual fans”. They may watch the games, but never played, and certainly don’t know what the hell is going on from a strategic stand point.
Lovie’s defense was just rotten. Just freakin terrible. Our personnel is far better than that performance, and we even got rid of talented (no, not “great” other than 24) players under him.
Holding on to Lovie was jut going to be another marginal season of bending (but not breaking) all the way to the end zone…then we break.
February 15th, 2016 at 5:28 pm
^^^^^
Exactly! CABucFan!!
February 15th, 2016 at 6:09 pm
As far as US old timers are concerned? Its all a lot of Hot Air Until Koetter wins. HE gets no praises from us…yet! Win 1st..then we pour the chocolate over the vanilla ice cream. Winning is all that matters.. its everything..so said the great Lombardi.