Mark Dominik expects Dirk Koetter to be Bucs head coach by Wednesday

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired Lovie Smith, initial expectations were for them to hire offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter to replace him. That hasn't happened yet, and the Bucs have instead interviewed Sean McDermott and Harold Goodwin for their head coaching jobs. They did acknowledge that Koetter was a strong candidate for the position, though, and he still appears to be the favorite.

In fact, former Bucs general manager Mark Dominik expects Koetter to be hired by Wednesday, or so he told Zig Fracassi on Sirius XM NFL radio. Pewter Report has the full audio of the comments. Dominik told JoeBucsFan that he is not basing any of this on insider information, just gut assessment, so take this as a well-educated guess.

"I  just don't think they want to change the system Jameis Winston plays in, because he did so well in it," Mark Dominik said. "And that's why I still think Dirk Koetter will end up being the head coach by Wednesday at the latest. [..] But I still think that Dirk Koetter will be the head, I don't think it's going to be Sean McDermott, I don't think it's coach Goodwin out of Arizona. Until they actually show me a name that I think 'Well, wait a second, that guy really might be the coach,' I get the sense that this is just trying to make sure they cover their bases, make sure they follow the Rooney Rule, and kind of take a quick peek around the league and get some information that you can't from other clubs. But I still think Dirk Koetter will be the head coach by Wednesday at the latest."

When asked about the issues with sexual harassment and violence by athletes during Dirk Koetter's tenure as Arizona State's head coach, Dominik noted that it would create some pause but it wouldn't be a deal-breaker.

"I  have a feeling that created some great pause, because I think that was eye-opening probably for a lot of people, and certainly probably for the Glazer family. And that one was not gonna go over well because I'm sure there were some questions internally like 'Did we know this when we hired him in the first place? Did we know this?' but you know what, that was a long time ago. Atlanta hired him, Tampa Bay's hired him. Will that create some pause? It could, but it also could create enough pause for other clubs to sit there. [..] If Tampa Bay decides to hire a different coach, a defensive coach as a head coach, could they still hold on to the rights of Dirk Koetter?"

That brings up another possibility: that the Bucs want to keep Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator while hiring someone else as head coach. It's certainly possible -- he doesn't appear to be the front-runner for any of the remaining head coaching jobs. It would also mean going through the same song and dance next year.

So hey, another analyst who thinks the Bucs will end up hiring Dirk Koetter. All we can do is wait and see at this point.