Chris Hovan Tees Off On Jim Bates
December 24th, 2009
You saw it. Joe saw it. Even the old man walking down the sidewalk with a white cane saw it.
The abortion of a defense that defrocked Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates tried to force feed players not suited for his two-gap system was the biggest cluster(youknowwhat) known to man since New Coke.
Despite this, the Bucs players played the part of good elves and spoke highly of the sordid defense that set franchise records for futility, among them the most consecutive games allowing 25 or more points.
Since Raheem the Dream clipped the wings of Bates, Bucs defenders have grumbled a little about Bates defense, but for the most part have kept their grievances to themselves.
That pattern was destroyed yesterday when Chris Hovan opened the floodgates on his distaste for Bates’ defense, so reports The Mad Twitterer of the St. Petersburg Times.
“The old defense is out-dated and didn’t work,” Hovan said. “This defense is what it is, it’s true. It’s physical. It’s violent, it’s fast. It’s Tampa 2. It’s what this city has been raised on.
“You could just tell the swagger is coming back to this defense, the way we approach the game, the way we study, the way we take the field. There’s a different swagger and it comes into play…We’re not running the old defense against these guys, we’re running the Tampa 2. We’re about to find out how good we are. When we played them in the past and played this defense against them, we’ve been successful. Not to say that we’re going to be successful, but we have a lot of confidence when we run this defense.”
Joe has written this many times before: Of course Bates didn’t have the players to run his two-gap system. Good coaches, rather than shoving their system down players’ throats, mold a system that gets the most out of the talent they have.
And let’s be honest, any coach who has “his” players is going to be successful. Just ask Barry Switzer.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Hey Joe- Whatever happened to Jim Bates? After “demotion” Morris said Bates would be in the booth. For 2 games they said that, and now I haven’t heard a thing. Did they actually fire him or did he quit? Maybe he’s walked they plank.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:55 am
JerrJenn2:
Joe believes Jim Bates is working for a fast food chain somewhere on Dale Mabry Highway.
December 24th, 2009 at 10:11 am
I think he is Joe. I saw him 2 days ago flipping burgers.
Great job Hovan. Look at the D now compared to the Bates’ D. This may have been a 6 or 8 win season without Bates. Well, maybe not, but things have improved.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Folks, let’s not forget that it was Radio who hired Jim Bates. Let’s not forget that Raheem knew Bates’s defense was a 2-gap 3-4 defense so it really is the fault of Raheem for the failures of the defense. Jim Bates was hired to change the defense and to institute a new system and Raheem fired/demoted him for doing his job.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:15 am
D-Rome:
Just to be clear, Joe thought Jim Bates had an impressive resume when he showed up to coach with the Bucs. Joe remembers the solid job he did in Miami and frankly should have been hired to replace Dave Wannstedt. Joe has no ax to grind with Jim Bates.
Joe’s problem was, clearly Bates had to see what his system up front wasn’t even remotely working. Rather that be stubborn and see the Bucs defense get lit up, and the front seven get blown off the line game after game after game, he didn’t adjust. Bates did adjust with the secondary but not up front.
Joe remembers when Bill Parcells was with New England. Parcells didn’t have the players to run the ball but he did have the players to pass (Drew Bledsoe) and Parcells would throw the ball 40 times again, which probably made him ill but he knew that with the players he had, that gave him the best chance to win.
Joe also seems to recall the Patriots, with Parcells, played in a Super Bowl.
Another example of a coach not adjusting to his players: Joe remembers when Lou Tepper took over for John Mackovic at Illinois. Mackovic had built a pretty good program based largely on an NFL-style passing attack. The linemen, receivers, quarterbacks, running backs were all recruited and developed to fit in a passing-style offense.
Tepper, who was a defensive coach, bragged at his press conference when hired, “We will run the ball!” Well, that’s all well and good if you have the horses. He didn’t.
Needless to say, Illinois with Tepper got clobbered week after week because — here’s a shock — they couldn’t run the ball. That program has yet to recover.
December 24th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Chris Hovan is old, out-of-date, and doesn’t work either. He gets way to much press for what he produces, which is VERY little. The day we get his replacement is a day this defense take a big step forward.
December 24th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
It is not Jim Bates fault…….that is his bag…..