The late coaching search is still hurting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Even though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have nearly assembled their coaching staff, the lengthy coaching search is still hurting the team. Not because the coaches can't work with the players: they're not allowed to do so for about another month anyway, per CBA rules. No, the team is hurt because this extended coaching search has created a situation where the head coach can't speak in-depth on the players on his own team.

When asked about the team's strengths by Gregg Rosenthal of NBC Sports, Greg Schiano could only say "I have not had a great chance to study our football team in-depth. The reality is I've spent a lot of time putting together this staff."

That's not good. Most of the team's personnel staff will be at the scouting combine, trying to find the right draft picks. But they're doing so without really knowing what the head coach thinks of his own players. Does he think he can salvage Quincy Black? What does he think of Tanard Jackson? Where does he stand on Ronde Barber?

Those aren't questions he can answer, but those are the question that will in large part determine the team's strategy in free agency and the draft. The coaching search is interfering with that process, and it's setting the team back.