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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have announced the hiring of Mike Biehl as their new director of college scouting. The 16-year NFL veteran spent the past 13 seasons with the San Diego Chargers, working as the team's assistant director of college scouting from 2008 through the 2013 season and working as the Midwest college scout for the prior seven years. Biehl has also spent time with the Buffalo Bills.
"I have great respect for Mike's professionalism, work ethic and knowledge of players that I have seen firsthand while scouting over the past 13 years," said Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht. "He's coming from an organization that has been among the winningest and most successful in the NFL during his time there and whose foundation has been built around draft picks, which was important as we researched all candidates."
In a 2007 piece on the Chargers' website, Biehl was mentioned as being instrumental in drafting Shaun Phillips, a fourth-rounder with 79.5 career sacks, and Shane Olivea, a seventh-round pick who turned into a four-year starter at right tackle who eventually left the NFL because of injury issues and failed drug tests.
Biehl replaces Eric Stokes, who was the team's director of college scouting before moving to the Miami Dolphins. The team had previously hired Jon Robinson as its director of player personnel, while the Bucs also brought in Andy Speyer as a new national scout.
With the draft and free agency in the books, Jason Licht is re-making his personnel department to fit his own demands. Interestingly, the makeover has mostly remained limited to the college scouting side of things, with the pro personnel department still largely intact, headed by Shelton Quarles.
The Bucs haven't seen this much turnover in the front office since the early 1990s, as the team had managed to cultivate a fairly steady line of in-house development of personnel executives. That approach hasn't led to much success, however, so Licht's fairly drastic makeover makes a lot of sense.