Jay Glazer: Bucs Should Hire Lovie
October 2nd, 2013
Wow, it has gotten so crazy over at One Buc Palace — Joe has seen saner kindergarten classes — that insiders with a pulse of the team are already stating the Bucs should be looking for a new coach immediately, despite the fact Bucs commander Greg Schiano is still at the helm.
That coach should be former Bears coach Lovie Smith, says FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer.
In an odd twist of events, if one is to believe Glazer (who has one of the better batting averages of any NFL writer), Bucs commander Greg Schiano asked Josh Freeman to skip a meeting (or meetings) to create the impression to the other 52 men on the Bucs roster that Freeman once again missed a team meeting.
Now, why Schiano would go through such a time-consuming, elaborate ruse to shame a No. 3 quarterback whose days are numbered when there are bigger fish to fry — you know, like winning the first game of the year? This is beyond Joe.
Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, (hidden behind the Times’ dastardly paywall) that he asked Freeman to stay in the training room (but his missed meeting would be an excused absence) and not attend a team meeting because Schiano wanted to speak with him about the turn of events Monday evening that rocked the very foundation of One Buc Palace.
But Glazer, in his Twitter feed, claims the timeline of events does not jive with Dominik’s explanation to Stroud.
This is all very confusing.
Joe’s head is spinning from the daily bombshells out of One Buc Palace and beyond. Each day it is dizzying.
Joe does know one thing, Schiano must have really PO’ed enough people that they are working overtime with their hand-picked favorite national writers to distribute scandalous information about Schiano in order to motivate Team Glazer to pull the rug out from under him before he finishes his second season.
As for Lovie Smith, color Joe lukewarm. He’s a Father Dungy football clone through and through. He rode the coattails of a fantastic defensive coordinator (Rod Marinelli) and his offense and hand-picked offensive assistants were, well, meh. Look, Mike Tice as an offensive coordinator? No wonder bratty Jay Culter was a mental patient last year. There’s a reason the Bears jettisoned Smith after posting a 10-win season in 2012 (think Father Dungy in 2001).
If the Bucs plan on developing a quarterback via the draft next spring, you don’t want someone like Lovie Smith picking the offensive coaches, unless you want him to produce Rex Grossman II and be right back where you started without a Bucs signal-caller in 2018.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:16 am
KARMA. Is a bitch !
FIRE SCHIANO
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:18 am
No to lovie smith, Marty is the perfect stop gap hire
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:23 am
Maybe he does like dungy did. Keeps sully but kets him run the offense without shianos crazy management style, and we start winning again.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:26 am
Lovie would be great for this team. He didn’t develop a QB because they were never in position to draft a good QB because they were busy winning. Something Singano doesn’t know how to do. Besides the Bears offense look about the same now. Obviously he wasn’t the problem.
FIRE SINGANO TODAY!!!
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:28 am
Pass on Lovie as a HC here thanks.
BTW, I sense there is a push pull here between Schiano and Dom. Freeman should have been sent home until a trade could be worked out. Dom could no longer justify Freeman starting but may be upset with Schiano that he didn’t get Dom’s golden pick/goose to perform.
All this media goat rope and pony show at OBP serves to undermine the Schiano regime….. takes the focus off Dom IMO.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:28 am
Know your strengths. Right now that strength is an incredibly talented defense. Why not hire the man who orchestrated the Bears defense into a terror across the league for almost ten years? The issues on Bears offense could easily be attributed to poor drafting and a crap o line for as long as I can remember. And they still made it to be Super Bowl with Grossman.
Know your strengths and hire Lovie.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:30 am
*** YOU CAN GET AROUND THE PAYWALL ON TAMPABAY.COM BY SWITCHING YOUR BROWSER TO “PRIVATE BROWSING”***
I am using Safari on my PC and iPhone and it works in both cases.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:34 am
We have a very good defense so hiring Lovie would be a disaster. Marty would be ok but how many years does he realistically have left? I would prefer someone more young and offensive minded.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:34 am
Instead of firing Schiano this soon, maybe its easier to locate and jettison the malcontents on this team.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:39 am
It sure seems like Schiano already labeled players as malcontents and already jettisoned them.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:42 am
tampa bay times loss is your gain Joe! I stopped visiting that site obviously. Too much info out there that they regurgitate for them to have a pay site. They aren’t the new york times!
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:43 am
Get rid of Freepass…TODAY. His petulant attitude is toxic and I firmly believe that he and his agent are the source of all of the leaks. He wants to be given his outright release so that he can decide which team he goes to…he wants to make the choice not the Bucs.
EVERYONE assumes Schiano is to blame for everything. Well, Schiano is to blame for some things, but I don’t get why Schiano would kill a QB’s career to only ensure the Bucs will get NOTHING in return…doesn’t pass the smell test.
Let’s fire everyone and start all over AGAIN…NO THANKS. Give Schiano and Domnik the chance to steer the organization out of this muck…they have 12 games to fix it.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:44 am
Hire Lame Kiffin!! Bwahaha!!! Sorry! Had to be said.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:45 am
For the life of me I can’t understand: WHY IS JOE BUC ALWAYS DEFENDING SCHIANO????
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:47 am
I would be so happy
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:50 am
Lovie = Dungy
That’s a problem?
Dungy of Tampa was different in Indy and won a Superbowl.
Dungy got an offense when he was hired at Indy (albeit handed to him and under strict orders to not touch it), and giving the Glazers credit that they earned when they hired Gruden,they would do the same. This Defense is on its way up still and the offense just needs a tweek. TOO MUCH TALENT for this team to be 0-4
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:53 am
Sexy Rexy was the original RGIII, he’s actually Rex Grossman III… but I digress.
Lovie Smith would be a return to the good old days, but not sure it is a fit. I definitely want Schiano fired, but am not sure about who is a good replacement.
Oh and Lovie Smith inherited Rex Grossman who was drafted the year before Smith was hired, but as a mature individual, coached the QB he inherited until a better QB was possible. Greggy boy may want to take a page from Lovie’s book.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:53 am
The media LOVES to pick a certain type of person just to get that CERTAIN fanbase in a frenzy… by throwing out Lovie Smith.
Now it’s Lovie Smith or nobody else.
If the next coach isn’t a certain TYPE, then that CERTAIN fanbase will manufacture the divide.
Since when does the media make coaching and personnel decisions? As if the owners are gonna do exactly what they want.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:56 am
We should be talking about a new GM first, then the new coach.
The proper order of hires is: Interim coach -> GM -> Head coach
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:58 am
I say hire Ronald McDonald, if it means we get this back stabbing P.O.S. out of One Buc Place! Rather than work on gameplans and winning, he and Dom are playing games to try and discredit a player he despises? This fruitcake has gotta go!
ANYTHING is better than the cesspool Schiano has turned One Buc Place into!
If the Glazers have signed off on this, they need to take the same vehicle outta town!
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:58 am
“national writers to distribute scandalous information about Schiano”
National writers don’t like secretive coaches so they try to sabotage them with lies. NBC writes that Schiano leaked the Freeman drug program story, when any moron could see that is from another team that wants Freeman to be released instead of traded.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:59 am
Aaand this thing just jumped the shark. I’m out.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:00 am
If the man is even close to Dungy hire him immediately.
We hadn’t had a winning season in FIFTEEN YEARS when the man took over and pulled us out of the depths of ineptitude.
Huge yes for that move.
10-6 sounds fabulous. Compared to the 0-16 that coach nut case is gonna deliver.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:01 am
Schiano was a nice transition and certainly helped remove some bad blood from this team.
It is no secret however that Schiano is a horrible game manager and cant make the right adjustments to help his team win games.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:02 am
What better time to install a new GM and coach than the bye. The offense would essentially look the same until they get acclimated.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:03 am
Biff Barker Says:
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:34 am
Instead of firing Schiano this soon, maybe its easier to locate and jettison the malcontents on this team.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Biff, he’s been doing that since he got here! Take a look at the records of the MALCONTENTS, then look at Schiano’s. Notice the difference? They’re mostly all 4-0 while Schianopolean is 0-4 and doing nothing but making things worse. What NFL player would want to play for this jackass?
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:08 am
Bucs fans love to live in the past and constantly try to return to it.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:13 am
If we hire anybody to improve this offense, I would LOVE to see Jay Gruden come home to Florida. He knows how to coach men and he played (semi) pro ball leading the AFL Predators to multiple championships as a QB (4) and coach (2). He has Andy Dalton looking and the Bengals offense looking great.
This guy needs to be our coach. Change the offensive identity of the team. Keep the defense. We’ve done it before with nice results.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:15 am
Yeah, Gruden looks like he absolutely hates being Mr. MNF
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:16 am
Sorry wrong gruden
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:16 am
Sorry, Gruden won 4 championships with the Tampa Bay Storm and 2 as coach for the Preds.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:23 am
Pewter bullion …. Joe knows he will be banished from the facility if Schiano hears of bad press from him. I am sure the dictator has his minions looking over everything . Ahmad black posted a twitter pic and was released the next day .
Fire Schiano !
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:30 am
The most highly sought after coach this offseason will be David Shaw, Head Coach of the Stanford Cardinal. The situation that most resembles the Bucs is the 2010 49ers – a talent rich team run by a hardass, incompetent coach, Mike Singletary. In 2011, Jim Harbaugh replaces Singletary and the rest is history.
Shaw is a Harbaugh protégé who has NFL bloodlines and spent 9 years in the NFL before being recruited by Harbaugh in 2006 to join him at the Univ. of San Diego where they had great success with former Buc QB Josh Johnson. When Harbaugh took the Job at Stanford, Shaw joined him as OC where they had great success with Andrew Luck and our own WR Chris Owusu. When Harbaugh took the job with the 49ers, Shaw was made HC and has continued the Harbaugh winning tradition with a won-loss record of 27-4.
Shaw’s father was a NFL coach with the Detroit Lions. In 1997, Shaw began a nine-year run as an NFL assistant coach with stints for the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders, and Baltimore Ravens. As the Raiders’ quality control coach from 1998–2000 and quarterbacks coach in 2001, the team won two consecutive AFC West titles and completed a 10–6 regular season. Shaw was the quarterbacks coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2002–2004 and wide receivers coach for the Ravens from 2002–2005, with the 2003 team finishing with a 10–6 regular season mark and winning the AFC North. In 2005, Shaw coached wide receivers Derrick Mason to a Ravens record of 86 receptions and 1,073 receiving yards (the third-highest Baltimore record).
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:40 am
After watching my beloved Bucs implode I feel there is a great need for a change from the top. We have Wannstedt w/HC experience. Let him be the interm coach until the end of this debacle of a season and see who is available then. Schiano, who preaches family and then allows something like this to happen in his family has certainly lost credibility with his players.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:43 am
Yes I would love to get Shaw but the Bucs are going to have to pay more than they did for Schiano, and thats not gonna happen if they’re paying for 3+ years of Schiano’s contract. Unfortunately its going to be a co-ordinator of some sort because they’ll come cheap. Sucks but thats reality, no point to dreaming of big names.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:43 am
Keep Schiano until the end of the season. I’m sure the other 0-4 teams won’t pull the plug until then. Hopefully the Steelers will let HC Mike Tomlin go, and we could pick him up. Just a dream
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:46 am
Bill Polian would hire the right coach
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:55 am
I say we fire all you media people who write whole articles based on twitter posts
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:56 am
Eric Says
“If the man is even close to Dungy hire him immediately. We hadn’t had a winning season in FIFTEEN YEARS when the man took over and pulled us out of the depths of ineptitude. ”
I think the memories of what Dungy did here are why people are shouting for Smith.
The problem is that Smith is not Dungy. At all. He is not a quick fix. And that’s what everyone here is looking for. That’s why they called for Freeman to be benched.
And really, you would think they’d have learned their lessons by now. The Freeman example showed that there are no quick fixes. Glennon sure didn’t look like one.
So now the “solution” seems to be to draft a quarterback and get a new head coach.
I look at it this way…why bother? Keep Schiano throughout the year. Judge him when the year is done. Decide then if he should be replaced.
Because if you do it now you have two options: Settle for whoever is available or promote from within. Wait until the off season and more options will be available.
BTW…I notice no one is crying over missing out on Chip Kelly these days.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:56 am
bucrightoff,
I agree, except Schiano unlike Gruden is not going to take a non-football related job. He is not going into anybody’s booth. The Bucs payout will be offset by any job he takes in coaching. He will not sit idle. He will get a college coaching job. He can coach, just not an NFL HC.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:57 am
I really cant believe everyone wants Schiano gone. If we get rid of Schiano we are doomed for another 2 or 3 years. The team needs stability! Look at Freeman with a revolving door of coaches and coordinators. -And apparent pill popping
So, wheres the progress with the Bucs?
How about that defense?? Last year first against the run (Okay last in pass but we had NO secondary ). This year defense is playing lights out! Coach is a defense of minded coach so put your irrational emotions aside and REALIZE THAT CHANGE TAKES TIME!
The team quit on Freeman not Schiano. Freeman missed meetings, showed up late and only the team knows what other disappointments came from #5.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:03 am
Mikeymacfly….. The vaunted defense lost the game vs the jets and the saints ?
And we are 0-4 ….
Where were all the bad Freeman stories before ? There were none !
Ask Michael Bennett why he took less money to sign with Seattle and there is your answer …
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:14 am
Marty as HC, Lovie as DC
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:14 am
@Raphale
you disagree the defense has been playing lights out?
Yes, King David made a bone-head play that cost us big time field position and cost us the game but you can not say that bad defense was the cause of that game. The Saits game we lost because of a missed field goal. We make that field goal there is no way they march up the field 80 yards with no timeouts.
Freeman didnt reach 50% completion. He has no leadership. Have you seen Tom Brady after a bad drive or dropped pass? He is on the side lines LEADING his offense. In this offensive drive league you need a Commander out there. That Freeman is not.
Dont get me wrong, I have Freemans Jersey and will always be a fan. I am sure #5 will do great somewhere else once he has grown a little but he’s just not the QB for this team and I feel Schiano is a good coach.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:18 am
Anyone who thinks Lovie, or any other potential NFL coach would willfully step into this media-created wasteland is absolutely insane. If Schiano is fired (which would be a huge mistake), someone will be promoted from within the team. And we proceed to go 0-16.
Again, I can’t believe how this has turned out. Schiano steps in and turns the team around, and is being run out of town after 3 close losses. He flipped the switch on the defense from god-awful to stout. All we need is solid offensive play and we start winning.
Be careful what you wish for people. I hope they find the source of these leaks and put them out on the street.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:20 am
I would be willing to bet everything I own that Schiano is NOT the source of these leaks, nor is he telling anyone to leak information.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:24 am
FIRE LOVIE
just getting in early
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:27 am
@Raphael
If you think the defense lost those games for us you need to watch them again. King Davis made a bone head move that cost us field position and against the Saints we missed a must make field goal. All while Freeman was less than 50% Completion.
I’m with @ShuttheBucup 100%
Schiano turned that defense into intimidating hard hitting group like nothing we have seen since the glory days. Why would anyone want to get rid of a coach like that?
Give us a slightly more productive offense and we are 3-1. POINT BLANK
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:32 am
The Bucs need to bring in an Offensive minded coach with NFL experience. The last time the Bucs had an Offensive minded coach they won a Superbowl
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:34 am
Lovie wouldn’t be a bad choice, but my concerns with him were stated in the article. The Bears were average under him. That might have had something to do with the front office. Maybe he’s looked at his mistakes in retrospect and would do things different if he had another opportunity.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:37 am
“Joe does know one thing, Schiano must have really PO’ed enough people that they are working overtime with their hand-picked favorite national writers to distribute scandalous information about Schiano in order to motivate Team Glazer to pull the rug out from under him before he finishes his second season.”
Joe, why can’t you do a story on this? You’ve said before that there is someone, or some people, who have close ties to the organization that you suspect are putting these things out there. Do some investigative journalism! Unless you really think Schiano is the source of these leaks, that seem to be only hurting himself, Freeman’s trade value, and the team as a whole. Which makes soooo much sense. Or maybe you want Schiano gone too?
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:39 am
I like Lovie……I also like Zimmer from Cincy!!! Tell him to bring FB Connor along with him 😉
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:42 am
Adam Gase
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:43 am
If the things people think Schiano is doing end up being true, does anyone think he’ll ever get another coaching job again? How can you earn the players trust?
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:47 am
@bucrightoff
no, he’d be relegated to high school football if he’s revealed to be the one behind the so-called “smear campaign”. but thats the thing, there is zero proof, and little motive for him to be the source. it is someone who wants to drive down Freeman’s trade value, or someone who wants Schiano’s job. bank on it. the mouthbreathing commenters on this site just gobble up whatever the media tells them to without firing off a brain cell.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:49 am
Het MikeyMcFly in case you were unaware Raphael has the entire set of Josh Freeman “Thriller” pictured hanging in his house, many right above his bed. In Raphael’s world Josh could have gone 9 for 50 for 36 yards and 9 INTS, but if he led us to the lead late it wasn’t his fault and the defense blew it and Freeman did enough etc…
October 2nd, 2013 at 10:02 am
Butch Davis coach
Dave Wiensted to Defensive coach — he plays Revis style
Both NFL Experience Both multiple SuperBowl Champs (COWBOYS)
Both National Champs (THEE “U”)
Mcnulty to Offensive Coach
October 2nd, 2013 at 10:12 am
Freeman is dominik’s golden boy first pick that was supposed to be “the man in tampa” the franchise quarterback that was supposed to get the bucs to the playoffs…well he didn’t and whose judgement does that fall under? So dominik is trying to save his job by making schiano look like he is trying to sabotage Freeman and defer what the real problem is.
October 2nd, 2013 at 10:25 am
F$ck u glazers fire schiano
October 2nd, 2013 at 10:47 am
I don’t get the Mark Dominic hate…. his job is to bring in talent…. we have plenty of talent, too much to be 0-4 and to have this circus at OBP.
I hate the thought of starting over, but I think maybe the organization went to far to the discipline side with this choice at head coach. Plus I just don’t trust the guy, he is working really hard to lose the locker room.
October 2nd, 2013 at 10:48 am
At this point it’s hire anyone but Schiano. Fire him and let Sully take over. Hell, let the ball boy take over since he’s probably the one who has an axe to grind against Schiano and has been leaking all the info. Anyone but Lil’ Himmler.
October 2nd, 2013 at 10:52 am
The Mike Glennon Mob started this slide..
October 2nd, 2013 at 10:54 am
don’t worry about the small problems, We have to fix the GM position and work it out from there. Get a real NFL GM that can run an nfl team. this is the second time that the pop-star has brought the circus to this town. Enough is enough.
October 2nd, 2013 at 11:13 am
Joe,
Agree with ShutTheBucUp re the media going after Schiano. I’m not a Schiano fan, but it does seem like reporters are piling on.
October 2nd, 2013 at 11:34 am
Of course the media is piling on. Its incredibly easy to do when everything is going badly. If the Bucs were 1-3 or 2-2 the media would be picking on the Giants right now. Coughlin and Eli outta send the Bucs a muffin basket for saving them from being annihilated by the media.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Schiano tells Freeman not to attend a meeting- then reports to the media that Freeman missed a meeting???
Scumbag.
Anyone supporting this jersey disaster, isn’t a Bucs fan. This guy is bush league, and he is an embarrassment to this franchise!!
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:22 pm
Call me crazy but would you b mad to see jon gruden back??? I wouldn’t b gruden was disciplined and he could run a offense. ..first rd pick qb maybe bridgewater who knows an he had his defense n place he could easiky find a d coordianter that knows how to play revis in man coverage as opposed to zone smells like a chip to me of jot atleast it ends this playoff drought appearance
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:28 pm
Waaa waaa waas Poor Joshy oh me oh my lol
Good riddance
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Joe, Imagine what Gruden could do with the talent on this team. Lets face it, his last two seasons he had teams filled with journeymen and players well past their prime, he won the division one year, and missed the playoffs by one game his last year. The Glazers should crawl back to Jon and beg for forgiveness, right after they fire the “Rockstar” and Schiano.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:15 pm
I doubt Gruden would want to come back here even if the Glazers begged him. He would just laugh at their face and say “sucks for you. I’m sticking with Mike Tirico in the booth.”
October 2nd, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Joe keeps blowing Schiano. Yummy
October 4th, 2013 at 5:24 pm
I like who said whoever is associated with Dungy , Hire , lol – I would go with a quick fix over spending the rest of the season with someone as out of touch with NFL ethic & protocol , do what you gotta do but do it soon