Morris fired offensive coordinator 7 months after hiring him Brad Biggs
Chan Gailey isn’t the only offensive coordinator out of a job just before the season starts.
While Gailey was ousted in Kansas City earlier in the week by coach Todd Haley, who is expected to take over play-calling duties, Jeff Jagodzinski has been fired as the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In this instance, the head coach isn’t the one stepping in to run the offense.
The natural move for the Bucs will be to slide quarterbacks coach Greg Olson into the position, and that is reportedly what has happened. Olson has been a play caller in Detroit and St. Louis.
Jagodzinski was hired by Raheem Morris in January after he was fired at Boston College. He led the Golden Eagles to consecutive appearances in the ACC Championship Game but was run off by the school when he interviewed for the head coaching vacancy that the New York Jets had. Olson is in his second year with the Bucs, and was passed over for the coordinator job when Jagodzinski was brought in.
It's an interesting move because it clearly states Tampa was not happy with the direction the offense was headed in. Morris and new general manager Mark Dominick are in their positions for the first time in their careers. This much can be said though, if Morris knew it wasn't a good fit, it's far better to act now than go through a season knowing the system in place was not going to work for him.
Morris has named Byron Leftwich as his starting quarterback, but Olson will be asked to bring along first-round pick Josh Freeman, who is third on the depth chart. One issue is how to develop Freeman with Luke McCown as the backup quarterback. As a No. 3, Freeman will be limited to running the scout team in practice.
A league source said in February that Olson had two opportunities to become an offensive coordinator elsewhere but Tampa Bay denied him the opportunity to leave while he was under contract.
The Buccaneers are expected to hold a news conference later today.
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I don't understand this? If I hired the OC we would have to be on the same page offensively. Philosophy, scheme, personel, the whole nine yards would match with what I wanted to do. How do you go through all the off season workouts and not be on the same page? I have been watching the Bucs all preseason and wondering when are they going to work on the run game. The anouncers have been telling us it's preseason don't put to much into the play calling. Is Morris just not experienced enough to figure it out until now? Morris's most important hire should have been an experienced OC since he really a defensive coach. Just doesn't make sense!
What a screwed up mess! When you are firing coaches 1 week before the season, you are in for a LONG year! Especially, if your staff was just put together a few months ago.
This really reflects that Morris maybe over his head. Morris is a defensive coach and his most important hire should have been an OC with experience that he could trust the offense to. The fact that they went through the off season workouts and 3/4 of the preseason before making this move just shows that Morris hasn't been paying attention. I have seen every preseason game and the casual fan could tell that the Bucs were moving away from the power run game that they were so effective with last year. The anouncers kept putting it in perspective by calling the play calling "preseason". I like Greg Olson. Good luck on the new job.
The Bucs are on their way back to being The Yucks.
Trading for an immature, loudmouthed, selfish, injury prone TE and overpaying him ? Dumb. Hiring a young head coach with no experience? Dumb.
Hiring a GM with no experience? Dumb.
Firing one of the better coaches in the league who's been helping an under-talented team over-achieve for the last 2 years? Dumb.
Drafting an athlete who can't read college coverages & expect him to do well in the NFL because the new HC took a shine to him one year they worked together in college? Dumb.
Hiring a coach to be OC then firing him just before the season? Dumb.
This is a disgrace. Morris and Dominik have become the Abott and Costello of the NFL. Jagz favored a more mobile QB to run his offense but the QB guru, Morris, wanted his "bro" starting regardless of his ability or lack of it. Way to go Morris and Duminik, sabatoge a season one week before it starts. Dumb and Dumber may be more accurate.
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Sep 03, 2009
11:19 AM
Morris should be fthe one fired. He is incompetent, will bring nothing but failure to the Bucs with his overt favoritism toward certain players (i.e., Leftwich, being chosen over McCown who had better preseason and was better suited to Jags' offense). The Bucs made a big mistake, promoting the big-mouthed Mike Tomlin wannabe who's nowhere near the human being Tomlin is.