According to Alex Marvez of Fox Sports, Earnest Byner is interviewing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the opening of running backs coach. Byner is best known from his playing days, during which he appeared in the Pro Bowl twice and won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins. In his 14-year career he rushed for 8,261 yards and 56 touchdowns.
Byner has worked as a running backs since 2004, when he joined the Redskins. He coached in Washington through 2007, later joining the Tennessee Titans for two seasons. In the past two years he coached the running backs for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Byner has coached a 1,100 yard rusher in every year of his coaching career. Under his tutelage Chris Johnson won the rushing title with 2,006 yards in his ridiculous 2009 season, rushing for a ludicrous 5.6 yards per carry . Since Byner left, Johnson has never managed that kind of efficiency, managing just 4.3 and 4.0 yard per carry in his past two seasons. Byner also coached Maurice Jones-Drew the past two seasons, who was the league's leading rusher for the 2011 season with 1,606 yards at 4.7 yards per carry.
In addition, Alex Marvez reports that Steve Loney is interviewing as the Buccaneers' assistant offensive line coach. He has coached the offensive line for the Minnesota Vikings (2002-05), Arizona Cardinals (2006) and St. Louis Rams (2008-11) in the past decade. The Bucs have reportedly hired Bob Bostad to be their offensive line coach, so Loney would presumably serve under him.