A look back at the Bucs head coaches.
by Buc Wild on Apr 6, 2010 4:02 PM EDT
Email
PrintIt's no secret that Bucs fans are about evenly split on Head Coach Raheem Morris. When he was announced as the new head coach after the firing of Jon Gruden, the news was met with an inquisitive silence. Most people had never heard of Morris or if they had didn't think he was qualified. As the 2009 season progressed the silence was broken by the ever-growing rumbling of disgruntled Bucs fans, and perhaps rightfully so.
But rather than rehash the "Should Raheem be our coach" or the "Was/is he ready to be our coach" questions, I thought I provide a simple historical comparison when looking at Raheem and the past coaches for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'll admit, it's a very general look at the past and we certainly can't quantify who had better chess pieces to work with, but I think we can all agree that each coach has had a lack of talent at some point.
Without further ado, here are the coaches, their win/loss totals and winning percentages, as well as seasons served (Note that a partial season is being counted as a full season).
| Coach | Years | Seasons | Wins | Losses | Ties | Winning % |
| John McKay | 1976-1984 | 9 | 45 | 91 | 1 | 33.09% |
| Leeman Bennett | 1985-1986 | 2 | 4 | 28 | 0 | 12.50% |
| Ray Perkins | 1987-1990 | 4 | 19 | 41 | 0 | 31.67% |
| Richard Williamson | 1990-1991 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 21.05% |
| Sam Wyche | 1992-1995 | 4 | 23 | 41 | 0 | 35.94% |
| Tony Dungy | 1996-2001 | 6 | 56 | 46 | 0 | 54.90% |
| Jon Gruden | 2002-2008 | 7 | 60 | 57 | 0 | 51.28% |
| Raheem Morris | 2009 - present | 1 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 18.75% |
How's that winning percentage column strike you? Makes you want to jump off a tall bridge doesn't it. As you can clearly see for yourself, any coach that has been with Tampa Bay hasn't lit the world on fire. The good news is, Raheem needs two victories in 2010 (or beyond if he is here) to ensure he isn't the losing-est coach in history in terms of total wins. Another point of note, that while Gruden brought us a Super Bowl title, he also provided a win percentage about equal to flipping a coin and picking heads or tails.
I'm hopeful that the best of Raheem's career is front of him. Dungy sure didn't start out great and he had a few successful years. If the first year is the worst, which we all hope it is in terms of talent and coaching, then 2010 and beyond should provide reasons to cheer.
43 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Morris
It was almost amusing to listen to the speculation among fans about Raheem last year. At the home game against the Saints, some guy sitting in front of me was telling anyone who would listen that he had been “informed” that Raheem wouldn’t be retained if the Bucs didn’t win at least two games. Heh.
Cannons... fire them.
Buc'Em - SBNation's home for discussion of all things regarding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
by Craig T on Apr 6, 2010 1:05 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Everyone likes to think they have the inside scoop.
They hear something on Silly-O or Duemig and then treat that as gospel truth and inside information.
Judging a coach
Judging Morris based on wins alone for one year is almost worthless. Not totally worthless, but almost.
As unfair as it may be
Head Coaches are almost always judged solely on wins and wins alone. He isn’t the GM and can’t be accredited for building the future or any of the other long term goals. His job is to win football games. He was learning on the job last year and he didn’t have a lot of talent to work with, but this year there will be no more excuses. He needs to win at least 6-7 games to keep his job IMO.
"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann
Coaches should be judged on moving the team in a positive direction
That is why one season is nearly worthless, the second season needs to show improvement, and so on until a Super Bowl caliber team is developed. Wins become much more relevant over time.
Okay.
So in your opinion, how many wins in 2010 will constitute a “positive direction”? I think many people’s problem with Raheem is that they feel he moved the team in a negative direction last season. From a head coaching standpoint he was not an improvement over Gruden. He is our coach for 2010 and thus I will support him, but “positive direction” doesn’t mean anything unless it directly translates to wins. Which is all that matters in the NFL.
"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann
I am looking for six wins and to be competitive in others
I wouldn’t be surprised if we manage 7 or even 8 wins, but I doubt it will get that high. SOS should help pad our numbers. Considering how bad we were last year, and our schedule, we still had a very real shot at winning five games last year. I believe the new regime is better than what Gruden was providing. They planned on failure last year, purposefully taking steps backwards to build the team for the future. Something that Gruden was either afraid to do, or unwilling to take the heat for. Only time will tell if it was a good decision.
I think you may be setting yourself up for disappointment
by expecting six wins. I don’t think our rookies are going to help us get three more wins than we got last year. I would be ecstatic if we got seven or eight wins, but I must say I would be very surprised. I’m expecting between 3-5 wins, but only because I have to predict with what we have to work with now. As the team stands now I think we would probably win only 2-3 games next season. With the influx of the rookies you can tack on another two wins, and maybe if a big name WR gets cut and brought in during camp we can add on another win or two. Seven to eight wins is attainable, but not likely. A lot of pieces will have to come together for us to do that well.
As far as purposefully taking steps backward, I don’t agree with that philosophy at all. What good is playing guys like Adam Hayward or Derrick Roberson when they obviously don’t belong in the NFL. It is only building for the future if you truly think those guys are going to be worthy of starting one day in the NFL, and neither ever will be. Taking steps backward is NEVER a good thing. You can move forward and still try to win some games in the process. In the words of Lombardi, winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Playing guys that they feel MIGHT pan out during the regular season is adverse to winning. They should be putting out the most competitive team possible every Sunday. Feeling players out is for the preseason. If they want people to come out and watch on Sundays than they need to win and win now.
Raheem was not a good head coach last season. I think most of us agree with that statement. I’m not saying he wasn’t a good defensive coordinator. He was, but he was very rarely successful in his job as a head coach (hiring coordinators, clock management, challenge issues etc.). Hopefully he learned a lot from the mistakes of his first year, but until he does something to show many fans otherwise, they will continue to believe that we are going “backward” with him at the helm. Whether this is accurate or fair is irrelevant. It is how many fans feel regarding the situation and we have to deal with it. This is a “what have you done for me lately” sport, and thus far all Raheem has done is lead the team to 3-13. You can’t blame people for not exuding positivity. Once Raheem shows that he is bringing more to the table than Gruden could I’m sure he will have more people in his corner.
I also think it’s important that you try to distinguish Morris apart from Dominik. They are not one and the same. We are talking about head coaches here, not head coaches/general managers. Raheem should not receive credit/criticism for decisions that are not his.
"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann
I very much agree with the Head coach / GM comment. They get lumped together a lot on here.
I look at this year this way. Under Freeman they won 3 out of 8 games. Could have/ should have won at least one more except for a long improbable drive in the last seconds. I had the feeling last year that we had about a 40% shot at winning against almost any other quality team, and would have won against a lower tier opponent. With the increased continuity early in the season, DC and OC should be stable. The additions of some more talent, and Freeman getting the starters role from the beginning we would have a better chance at winning than last year. Throw in a significantly better SOS, and I get my 6 wins.
Your 3-5 win projection has them, in my mind performing worse than last year. They won only 3 games last year, but look at all the crap that happened, and the SOS. They also won all three games in the last 8 games after Freeman came in and the defense changed. Unless we are injury riddled early in the season, we should be a below average team, but not awful.
SOS doesn't mean much because a few of those "bad" teams from last year aren't as bad this year.
Redskins and Lions have improved a lot, so I wouldn’t judge them for this coming season on last years results.
Stay thirsty my friends.
Some have said it before
but right now (before the draft) we ARE worse on paper than we were last year. We don’t have a #1 WR. I guess you could say we are stable at OC, but in my opinion Olson is just not a good OC. Stable is not the same thing as good. I’m excited to see what Raheem can do with the defense full time, but fear that wearing two hats is a bad move for a 2nd year head coach. Especially considering that this time last year he had never worn either of them before.
As for Freeman, I guess that is where we disagree the most. He could very well get better, but if he turns the ball over like he did last year he is going to lose us more games than he wins us (especially if Olson has him throwing the ball 40 times a game). His future is up in the air. You seem to be convinced that he is going to give us some consistently good QB play just because he will be the guy from the get go, but I’m going to reserve that optimism until I see him play the first game.
If we are going to play the could have / should have game, it is also important to remember that we could have just as easily been 1-15 as 5-11. IMO we were truly a 3 win team last year. We have a lot of work to do, and I think we are on the right path. I just don’t agree with how we got here, and the pace with which we are taking it.
"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann
We are not the team we will be
This time last year we didn’t have Stoughter, Freeman or Miller. All of whom made a significant impact on the team. It will be similar this year, only we have more picks and a better draft class.
Bottom line I hope I am right and you are wrong. We will find out soon enough.
I hope you are right too buddy.
I would love to be wrong on this matter.
"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann
by LeeCaz on Apr 6, 2010 7:54 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Actually LC, you are right on.
I hope we can bring in a #1 WR, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s gonna happen, and if it doesn’t, 3-4 games is pushing it.
Stay thirsty my friends.
Just to stay within the realm of reality......
Though Stroughter {far more than others}, Freeman and Miller did have some success (nothing spectacular) last year that doesn’t guarantee how they will do this next season…..
Example: Michael Clayton…….. Proof that playing well and having 1 good season doesn’t always transfer to the next……..
Also, basically all the Bucs have done so far is swapped Antonio Bryant {who has been 1 of the better Receivers the Bucs have had making great catches} for Reggie Brown {who if I remember right has had a career much like Clayton…. Started good and then fizzled out}!!!
At this point as it is it will take something of a miracle for the Bucs to win 6 games much less 7 or 8…… It could happen and I would be extremely thrilled but it’s not likely IMO!!
"In life, you'll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to It." - Coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant
Keeping it real
Bryant only had one good year with the Bucs. We do not know if the gvuys mentioned above will have great years or bad ones, but we also do not know that about any of the other players. AB also was out of football, and could have come back horrible. Tampa took a chance on him, and for one year it paid off. Brown is a little different than Clayton, he had three decent years. The Brown Clayton comparison is unfair IMO.
I agree
Brown has a lot of talent and showed some consistency until he reportedly got into issues with teammates or the team itself and stopped producing. Maybe he does just need a change of scenery, or maybe he’ll produce nothing. Either way, he’s a low risk/high reward prospect.
It is much more likely there will be improvement from the rookie year than not.
Clayton was not the norm, that is why he is so disappointing. They will likely have a pretty good to very good draft day. They may bring in another player or more after the draft. I think your pessimistic outlook is less likely then my reasons to expect a mild improvement. Although 6 wins is double what they had last year it would still be a mild improvement IMO due to SOS. I didn’t say 7 or 8 wins is likely, in fact I said that I would doubt it would happen. I do think we are more likely going to win 7 than win 3 though.
I think my point is that I think they will improve as a team in 2010, and you apparently think they will be the same or worse. I think your argument is a harder one to make. Even if they play at the same level after Raheem took over the defense and Freeman took over at QB, they should have more wins than last year. The first half of the year was awful, but there was obvious improvements made in the second half. Even the biggest skeptics have to agree with that.
Steve White said this today on JoeBucsFan
I will go out on a limb and say yes we will be better. Hell it would be hard to be any worse. But seriously I think the schemes will help us win at least a few more games. Then it comes down to whether we have added enough talent to win the close games. Id say a good estimate is 6 or 7 wins
Raheem the Dream has the fewest losses in team history at 13.
i.e. He is our greatest coach ever. But he only gets to keep that title for 4 more months. :}
5 picks out of the first 100 in a draft saturated with talent. Yes, I'm optimistic.
Just an observation.....
But it looks like since the departure of Niko that you are now filling the role of the voice of optimism for the Bucs……… {lol}
"In life, you'll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to It." - Coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant
What happened to BFD and Paul?
I was the head of the Eric Berry bandwagon- Im sad to say its over.
Puffy Rod's Bandwagon continues forever.
New head of the Matthew Barnaby Bandwagon!!!
by 4QB on Apr 7, 2010 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions
2010
I expect 6-7 wins. The Qb “competition” last year hindered development of the team. Add to that the moving of the defence to a scheme that we didn’t have the personell to play hurt us also.
Raheem didn’t show head coaching skill in several ways. (1) developed a defensive scheme that we couldn’t match up with. Only after he abandoned the Raheem defence and returned to Tampa-2 did we enjoy success. This was done too late and was too little. (2) never in the entire year did we make offensive gameplan adjustments at halftime. This is the most damning problem for me. a lack of abitity to adjust to the situation facing you.
With the removal of the QB distraction and a change back to predominately a Tampa-2 defense we should win a third of our games easily. Anything more and I will start to believe, anything less and I will be on the fire Raheem bandwagon. 6-7 wins will not be viewed as progress by me. The removal of ther Raheem generated obstructions will alone give us 3 wins. Coaching skill will be the games won that go beyond that. Good luck Raheem, I hope you surprise me.
That wasn't Raheem's defense you're referring to
That was Jim Bates’ defense. Bates developed that scheme and he’s the one who should be held responsible for the defense until he got fired. Raheem should be held responsible for hiring Jim Bates, but not for developing a defense he never developed.
And I don’t know how you can say we never made offensive adjustments at half-time, from the games I remember we often did much better in the second half than we did in the first.
I also think you have unrealistically high expectations for a team so lacking in talent as ours. One slot receiver and a TE as good pass-catching targets, a poor running game, a second-year QB, a defense that improved toward the end of the year but was never real good? How do you expect coaching to get us 10 wins there?
Adjustments
I watched the same games, and am always left scratching my head when people say they made no adjustments all year. I agree with your entire post above, but I am glad I am not the only one that thoguht they played better offense in the second half.
Well, there really were a lot of games where there were no adjustments.
2009 First half offensive scoring: 100
2009 Second half scoring: 109
Those numbers are a bit skewed from the 21 points we scored in the 2nd half of the Seattle game. The Bucs were held scoreless in the 2nd half five times last season, compared with just twice in the first half.
Maybe you could say that adjustments were made, but I think the stats prove that if they were made, they were the wrong ones.
"Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." - Joe Theismann
Well, I was thinking more in specific games
Mostly later in the year with Freeman. The Green Bay game, the Dolphins game, the Seahawks game, the 2nd Saints game. Not all adjustments worked, but there was a clear discrepancy in first half and second half performance in those games.
Perhaps that was countered by poor adjustments in other games.
Then again, we’re talking about a very small sample size so it may as well all be a coincidence.
Regardless, I think it’s pretty weird to speak of an NFL coach not making any adjustments at half-time. That just seems ridiculous.
What about the Jets game? Atlanta? New Orleans the first time?
I know in the Jets game, our RB always lined up weak side and the Jets would blitz strong side, almost every single play through the entire game.
Stay thirsty my friends.
Did Bennet ever have another coaching job after the Bucs?
by bucfanlostiniowa on Apr 7, 2010 4:31 PM EDT reply actions
Tampa Bay is the graveyard where coaches come to die...
Its kinda like Valhalla is for vikings… but in reverse.
jesus people, stop whining!
just because you have a right to an opinion, doesn’t mean we need to hear it. so first of all, stop whining. you love it when a team is winning, but are so quick to jump ship or diss your team when it isn’t winning. pick one or the other. everybody who is a bucs fan should have known that when raheem morris was hired to replace jon gruden, that we wre not going to have a winning season? why do people pretend to be stupid? there is a is a difference between being stupid and pretending to be stupid. did you not notice the slashing of veterans such as derrick brooks or warrick dunn? to the people who suggest that we should have keep them, did they watch the oakland game last year? all we had to do was beat oakland, and we were in the playoffs.nope we didnt do it, because jon gruden loves injecting slow, experienced veterans instead of young but unseasoned rookies. so now that we did this, you think that 3 wins is a failure? we very well could have goine 0 for 16 like the lions recently? for all this talk thats bad, it could have been worse. which is why some people need to shut the heck up because it seems like hardly anyone has the patience to endure the time it takes for rookies to learn. do you think reggie bush, payton manning or dree brees became a supertstar overnight? NOPE. so what makes you think the bucs rookies will? don’t get me wrong. i have been a fan since i was young, and i was actually born in this state( tampa) i dont need to hear the opinions of yanks or snowbirds who lack patience. if your going to be a buc fan, you must stick by them and SUPPORT them through thick and thin. whether you like the direction or not that their going, they will continue to play WITHOUT YOU! you are nothing more than a mere ant who controls nothing of the bucs franchise, and yes your money at a singular level, won’t be missed. EITHER LOVE IT OR SHUT IT! there is no between. so stop whining like a bunch of annoying wives. you people afre what make me sound like a jerk, when im really not.
Paragraphs would help in reading that wall of text
I don’t disagree with your point that people are being unrealistic and shortsighted, but to tell them to just shut up about it because you don’t like hearing them is ridiculous. You could just as easily not read those comments.
People are free to express their opinions here, positive or negative, as long as they fall within our guidelines.
Just because I complain about a move doesn’t mean I don’t support the team. To many people confuse being a fan with being a blind loyalist. Every organization needs objective, realistic people, not yes men. I support the team with my hard earned dollars and time. If I disagree with something, I will voice my opinion, but that doesn’t mean I’ve turned my back. I’m also quick to praise when it’s due.
"EITHER LOVE IT OR SHUT IT!".........????
There is no in between???
So we can’t voice criticism or dissent over a decision made by the organization that we feel is….or clearly is…wrong? We have to be sunny-side-up optimists and keep our mouths shut? Sounds kind of harsh and unamerican, quite frankly.
People can say whatver the hell they want here, positive or negative, so long as it’s within the community guidelines.
Cannons... fire them.
Buc'Em - SBNation's home for discussion of all things regarding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
My above post stating this is the "Coaches Graveyard"
is not really far off, though the remark was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Take another good look at that list:
John McKay – We nearly killed the poor guy with disappointment. Had some success, but would never have a winning record, no matter how long he stayed.
Leeman Bennett – What happened to this guy? Does anyone know…
Ray Perkins – Came from a successful Alabama program to the Bucs and simply fell off the end of the planet after his dismissal. hard to tell if he was disappointed or not because he always looked the same – pissed.
Richard Williamson – Have no idea where he is right now. Probably the same place he was after being let go.
Sam Wyche – Coaching High School football for fun now. This is the first guy I liked since John McKay stepped down. Funny and emotional, but unable to get it done. He did give us Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, etc so you can’t trash the guy. Definately laid the foundation for future successes.
Tony Dungy – Great coach and did great things in Indy. He got us most of the way there.
Jon Gruden – I liked him too. Took us to the promised land. Great coach but needed some better GM help for drafting. The multiple high choices we gave up to get him here hurt his ability to re-stock the team after it was scavenged following the Superbowl win. Probably still cashing Buc checks. He will coach again when the right situation presents itself.
As you can plainly see, most never did anything of substance ever again. So is it a strange coincidence, or does this place just take the life force out of you? I can’t say for sure, but I can say that anyone who feels that the above is whining (Allistar) refuses to recognize the curious pattern. Pointing out the obvious is not whining – it is just observing what is.
If you don’t agree – too bad. I have the same right you do to post comments – the positive, negative or otherwise.
You probably have a point
Though it clearly goes for the Culverhouse era – Dungy went on to win a Super Bowl with the Colts and Gruden clearly isn’t done yet.
I’m sure that posting a losing record didn’t help those coaches get a new job either.
I am not sure I agree with your last sentence fragment...
If people post things that you don’t like, and you feel you just have to comment – maybe you are.
by Cracker Ball on Apr 11, 2010 6:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bucs Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Smarter Stats: Super Bowl Edition — Giants’ offense vs. Patriots’ defense
- Curtis Martin’s mother helped drive him to the Hall of Fame
- Patriots heartlessly release Tiquan Underwood on the eve of Super Bowl XLVI
- Butler, Dawson, Doleman, Kennedy, Martin and Roaf make the 2012 Hall of Fame cut
- Ten things to know about Super Bowl XLVI halftime
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
