Having been a Bucs fan for 14 years now, it’s been rare to see a coaching change. It wouldn’t be right to be pessimistic about it though. In 1996, they hired a first time head coach by the name of Dungy and they were rewarded a year later with their first winning season since 1982. In 2002, they traded 4 high draft picks and $8 million for Jon Gruden and immediately got a return on their investment with a Super Bowl win. Now in 2009, the Buccaneers have taken a new risk: Raheem Morris. Next year could be surprisingly good if history has any indication.
One month ago, Morris was only a defensive backs coach who has never held an NFL coordinator position. He is younger than 10 of his own players. Now he’s in Mobile, Alabama scouting talent at the Senior Bowl and trying to put a staff together. Have to admit this concept is a little unnerving, but change is sometimes necessary.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on some of the Gruden pitfalls that led to this transition.
1)Firstly, the catastrophic collapse to end the 2008 season. After winning the division the year before and beginning the season 9-3, Gruden’s Bucs proceeded to drop their next 4 straight games to miss the playoffs. The issue was actually defensive breakdowns, but when you lose to the Raiders at home with the playoffs on the line, fingers have to be pointed. Monte Kiffin announcing he’s off to UT shouldn’t have had an effect on a veteran’s ability to tackle.
2)Ever since he took over in 2002, Gruden has had a piss poor eye for talent. Then 2 years later he brings in his puppet Bruce Allen as a GM and the draft failures continue. Losing all those high draft picks left the cupboard a little bare, but in the years later, they draft Michael Clayton, Cadillac Williams, Davin Joseph, Gaines Adams and Aquib Talib as their first rounders. Out of those picks, only 2 are starters.
In this past draft alone, their 2nd round pick was a Division II receiver who had never caught more than 30 passes in a season. He was widely thought of as a mid-2nd day pick and with DeSean Jackson still on the board, they traded down and selected “the bum”, as my father and I like to call him, a few picks later. The 4th round pick didn’t even make the team.
3)The QB carousel. Gruden could never decide on a quarterback, not even through a full season. There is also the theory that a coach will always be tied to their early drafted franchise quarterback. If the QB fails, so does the coach. Guess Gruden subscribed to this theory because the highest he ever drafted a QB was the bottom of the 3rd round when it was still Rich McKay’s decision. AND for one season, he started little baldy Bruce Gradkowski for 11 freaking games. This season, he went to camp with 5 QBs and kept 4 on the active roster throughout the season.
4)Which brings me to point 4. His constant attributing of season failures to injuries. In this year’s post-season wrapup, he used the word injury 26 times. EVERY team has to deal with injuries. A good coach makes contingency plans with good depth. With crappy drafts and bringing in bad free agent backups, one injury was enough to lose some close games. The one silver lining was some reclamation projects. Some worked: Chris Hovan, Antonio Bryant. Some didn’t: David Boston, Jerramy Stevens. I don’t give this too much credit because of how low risk these were. Invite them to camp on a minimum salary and see if they can play.
5)Another disappointment was his offensive statistics and coaching. While the defense consistently kept him in games, his offensive ranking was never impressive. He never developed a consistent running back and the WR corps hasn’t been the same since he scared off Keyshawn and Keenan. Also, most long term coaches are able to start a “coaching tree” where their disciples go on to become coordinators and head coaches elsewhere. Not one offensive assistant or position coach ever moved on to a greater coaching position.
6)Lastly, Gruden had a short fuse. If a player had a string of bad games, they were officially in his infamous “doghouse”. Once prominent players such as Chris Simms, Michael Clayton, Joey Galloway, Keyshawn Johnson, Jeff Garciaall pissed Chucky off either personally or on the field and were never treated as professionals again. Players on offense don’t want to re-sign when free agency comes along. Now reports from Garcia, Clayton, Earnest Graham, Keyshawn have come out that detail his shortcomings in player relations.
I have a ton of other thoughts on the subject, but all in all I loved Gruden as a fan. His sideline tirades and postgame interviews were priceless. His game management, personnel decisions and player relations were always lacking. But who knows if this 32-year old wonder kid will take the Bucs to the promised land again. At least the owners have shown their still committed to the team and ARE willing to spend money. They still owe the GruAllen $20+ million. Look for them to make a splash personnel change such as trading for Matt Cassel or Anquan Boldin or taking a QB in the first round.
