clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

A look back at the Bucs head coaches.

It'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.