Here's the lede in Roy Cummings' TBO.com piece on the 2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
Jon Gruden's future with the Bucs cannot be tied solely to a number. Though nine or 10 wins may get the Bucs to the playoffs, they won't necessarily guarantee Gruden keeps his job as Bucs coach.I have no reason to dispute this, but it does raise a question: if getting to the postseason isn't enough for Gruden to keep his job, why didn't the club fire him this off-season?
The obvious answer is that Gruden, for all his perceived faults, was better than whoever else was available. Also, next off-season, there could be run on high-profie coaches looking for work. At the top of that list is Bill Cowher, who is seemingly at the top of every team's wish list. There's also Marty Schottenheimer and Bill Parcells -- both available this off-season, by the way -- and second-tier candidates like Ron Rivera and Russ Grimm.
Whatever happens, Cummings hits on the crux of the matter for the Bucs' owners:
[They] want more than just a return to the playoffs. At the end of the season, they want to feel as if their franchise is heading in the right direction again. They want to feel good about the future.I'm sure everybody felt the organization was headed in the right direction following the 2002 Super Bowl stompin' of the Oakland Raiders. But in the four years since, Tampa Bay has only one playoff appearance while averaging fewer than seven wins a season. In looking back, I'd say Tony Dungy had the Bucs on the right track. And look where that got him.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-19-2007 @ 8:52PM
pitt said...
grudens back door tactics(relying on old washed up vets) and backstabbing have him at the end of the plank . please push gruden over the plank and get urban meyer in here and bring a offense that tampa bay has never had! bye chucky your system is too complicated for anyone to grasp and hasnt worked since the superbowl, time to start fresh!
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8-20-2007 @ 8:40AM
myra said...
How come no one has contacted Fassell? Just joking, but it is an interesting question that while other coaches are hashed and re-hashed Fassell hasn't even had an assistant or line coach offer.
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8-20-2007 @ 8:43AM
rudental2 said...
Actually, Gruden didn't win the Super Bowl. Tony's team did! Gruden even gave Tony credit for it. The wonder boy rode on the rails of a premade train. With that said, Gruden takes the basics and confuses them so, NO BODY can execute them. I would rather be a contender every year than win once and go away for another 20. Bye Bye Chuckie and good ridance to you and your foul mouth.
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8-20-2007 @ 11:05AM
rufus said...
yep, gruden won a superbowl with someone a team someone else built, same as switzer, 2 no class, no talent coaches.
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8-20-2007 @ 12:03PM
michael stepakoff said...
Tampa Bay, as an organization, treats people with no respect. They have proven that bottom-line thinking gets you no where. Whether its Dungy, Rich MacKay, John Lynch, etc. etc., there is no honor, loyalty, or fairness in the way that people are treated. You can't build like that, not in the NFL, and not anywhere.
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8-20-2007 @ 12:03PM
Robert Schroeder said...
What no one seems to remember is that the team that Tony Dungy built, was the team that absolutly thrashed the team that Gruden built at Oakland!!! Pay tony whatever it takes to get him back, because his heart, his home and his church is in Tampa!
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8-20-2007 @ 1:13PM
brad said...
Scottenheimer might the only avialable on that first round list. but will anybody employ him? Parcells and Cowher are off the list. Cowher might come someday but not now.
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8-20-2007 @ 4:21PM
Frank said...
The problem is that Tampa is a cheap operation. To lose all the great vetsw after their super bown winn was Dumb. Look at how many are playing elsewhere. They are like Clevelands baseball team, give away all the stars and run cheap!
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8-20-2007 @ 5:53PM
ray mendez said...
tony dungy did not draft manning or harrison-who's team is he playing with???-oh-by the way dunry did build the bucs with the draft, but when your 2 and 14, or 4 and 11 you get a lot of people in camp.
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