QUOTE: “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” -- Oscar Wilde
Now, the sixth NFL coach has been fired, and the second coordinator in Tampa Bay has been removed. Jim Bates, the Bucs defensive coordinator, was relieved of his duties by head coach Raheem Morris, who then proclaimed he was going to take over the defense and go back to the team’s old style. Morris, who had never been a coordinator in the NFL before being promoted to head coach, decided to bring in Bates to change the defense in Tampa and give the Bucs a new identity. Since his background is defense, he must have known beforehand the system Bates was going to run and how it would blend with the personnel already in Tampa. This is assuming that Morris knows what he’s doing. And based on what’s going on in Tampa since the firing of Jon “Love You Bro” Gruden, one would never assume that they know anything about running a professional football team. What’s happening in Tampa right now would even insult the people who play Madden 2009.
APBucs coach Raheem Morris is learning on the job, which is never a good thing in the NFL.
How can the Bucs make this many mistakes in one season? Simple. It takes professional football people to run a professional football organization, and nothing about Tampa since last January has been professional. They’ve been the “gang that couldn’t shoot straight,” adhering to the basic principle of being lost but at least making great time. Making a mistake on your offensive coordinator is one thing, but making a mistake in the area of your own expertise shows a lapse in your own knowledge. Did the Bucs wait for the first loss from the bye week to make this move since just nine days ago they got their first win?
I’m somewhat sympathetic to Raheem Morris because he’s been learning on the job, but the NFL is not the place to learn. I’m not sympathetic to the Bucs for not surrounding Morris with experienced people in the front office to help him navigate the tough terrain called the NFL. It takes professional football people who know how to build teams and develop a comprehensive procurement program. Combining Morris with an inexperienced Mark Dominik as GM showed the Buccaneers faithful that their ownership group thinks anyone can run an NFL team. Neither Morris nor Dominik has the foundation in their backgrounds to successfully do their jobs without making costly decisions. This idea of going young to save money is a faulty one since inexperience can cause mistakes and mistakes cost money. So where is the cost-saving in that concept? This “on-the-job tutorial” for Morris and Dominik is causing the Bucs to look bad in the eyes of their fans — and their contemporaries around the league. It takes experience to become a head coach or general manager, and it takes experience hiring people to find the right people to hire. Both of them have failed in this area.
What bothers me most is that had the Bucs (meaning Morris and Dominik) been a little more experienced, they would have known what they were getting into with their coordinators. First impressions are lasting, and the Bucs looked bad with both hires. When it comes to Jim Bates, it’s fairly clear what style of defense he brings. Whether you like Bates or not — I happen to like him -- the defense he wants to run is his own. There’s little room for misinterpretation when it comes to his style of defense, and if it was good for you in February, why is it now a bad idea after 10 games? Yes, the Bucs are bad on defense, and no, they don’t have the talent to run the Bates scheme -- but these are conditions that should have been known before he was hired. Making mistakes I can understand. Making mistakes in the foundation of your team building are costly and can cost people their livelihoods. As Don Corleone once told Michael in “The Godfather,” “Women and children can be careless, men cannot.” Morris and Dominik were just plain careless in their hiring process, and the core of their foundation as a team has been broken.
APTampa Bay celebrates its first and only victory of the year.
Doubt has crept into the minds of the players in the locker room with each move Morris makes because there’s doubt in every move. Not having experience creates a sense of uncertainty with your decision-making, and the more mistakes a leader makes, the less likely his followers will follow. Doubt is never a good thing for anyone.
What should the Bucs do? Should Morris keep his job? My sense and recommendation to the Glazer family is to stop running the team like it’s the Dave Clark Five and let one person with experience come in to run the football operation. My reaction to Morris is the same as the one I have for Eric “The Secret” Mangini with the Browns: Being patient is fine, but patiently going in the wrong direction is still going in the wrong direction. All over the league, we’re seeing a void in clubs willing to place resources into a team builder, and we’re left with a poor excuse of a Madden 2009 team. I wrote in August that there were 12 teams competing for a title and 20 teams playing Madden 2009 -- and the Bucs are not even playing that game right.
Matt “I love me some field-goal kicker for my Texans” Bowen...
Well, Matt, your team is right about where I thought they might be, but never did I think they would be behind the Jags in third place. They’re just good enough to look good, but not good enough to finish. And I’m going to look even better hanging with the band in Amsterdam. I better start working on my favorite set list now.
For a look at the Vince Young-led revival of the Titans, check out this article from Bleacher Report.
Follow me on Twitter: michaelombardi
During one of those long flights to England, I would recommend the Glazers stop by the book store and pick up a copy and read Bill Walsh's "Building A Champion" and then go out and find a guy who can implement a plan for this organization. Tampa is making Oakland look like a stable organization right now.
Can't the Bucs' problems be pinned on the fact that Glazer is trying to run the team on the cheap to help subsidize his purchase of Man U? Given their problems and the turmoil with the Browns, I think the NFL should ban owners from purchasing English Premier League teams, or any team that faces relegation for poor performance. As bad as the Bucs and Browns play, they're in no danger of being relegated.
I wonder what the Glazers are thinking right now...
Mike, Malcolm Glazer isn't running the team anymore. He handed the whole thing over to his kids when he had his stroke and it has been a train wreck ever since.
The Glazer kids have no idea how to run a NFL team, so basically we have a rookie HC and rookie owners. This team isn't getting better anytime soon.
Morris is in over his head, Dominik has no clue and the owners are the worst! See Ya!
Morris is in over his head, Dominik has no clue and the owners are the worst! See Ya!
Have they been a train wreck since the stroke, or since the Glazer's overextending themselves by buying Man United?
They bought Man United and put 850 million in debt, with 60 million in yearly interests payments. They sold Ronaldo for roughly ~130 million, and didn't reinvest much if any of that back into the Man United team.
Look at what has been happening with Hicks and Gillett, who also put a large debt and high yearly interest payments when they bought Liverpool. Gillett sold the Montreal Canadians to Molson, and Hicks looks like he's in the process of being forced to sell the Texas Rangers.
I think the Glazers are going cheap on spending with the Bucs in order to balance the high-risk debt they have in Man United. I really do not see them going for one of the expensive big fish, next summer. They will go cheap.
It is obvious that Dominik and Morris are in over their heads a little bit in their respective positions with the Bucs. Mr. Lombardi is right when he talks about the void of teams putting their resources into a team builder. Look at the Bills. They have a marketing guy as their GM right now. The owner of the Bills did not want to go outside of his comfort zone and spend the money necessary to bring in a strong GM who can build a program. He didn't value the importance of a qualified GM with a vision of how to build a successful football team and organization. The Bucs seem to be of a similar mindset. They decided to rebuild, but did not hire the experienced football guy you need to build an organization. They are suffering for that now.
" I wrote in August that there were 12 teams competing for a title and 20 teams playing Madden 2009 -- and the Bucs are not even playing that game right."
I missed this article and can't seem to find this in the archives. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
The Glazers do have some cash flow problems just a little corner cutting hear and there. Nobody will notice. coaching
Mike, wondering if you'd throw some names out who you think would be able to point the Bucs' listing ship in the right direction.
Please!
We're adrif, desperate and losing hope!
The Tampa 2 is dead, Raheem. If I remember correctly the Tampa 2 didn't help stop the run last year. Tampa's defensive line is horrible, and will not create any more pressure on the QB. Watch for opposing QBs to throw quick short passes, while the slow Rhonde Barber drops back into coverage. The only time Rhonde looks good is when they play the nickel. Sorry, Raheem, but I BLAME YOU! The Glazers should look for a new coach after this season. Look for Greg Olson to get a shot. He did help the Rams with their high powered offense a few yeas ago.
" I wrote in August that there were 12 teams competing for a title and 20 teams playing Madden 2009 -- and the Bucs are not even playing that game right."
I missed this article and I can't seem to find it in the archives. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
The Bucs should get on the same bus as the Bills, end the Morris/Dominik now!
If the Glazers were going to replace Gruden & Allen they should have done this at the end of the season. Of course they would have had to answer to the fans why inexperience new decision makers were being hired. Morris & Dom may be the right choices but how far do you allow this team to fall to find out. Their pluses are, the two of them are not afraid to make decisions that make them look bad. This makes me believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The glazer's purse strings have been very tight for along time, and this affected Gruden & Allen also. NFL teams need frontline players, not second & third team players, to compete every week. I believe if the Glazers don't correct this problem at the end of the year were in for a long run of very inconsistant football.
The Raheem Morris regime will be short-lived. I don't think any Tampa fan has to worry about that for long. And this team wasn't "going anywhere" regardless of who is coaching.
But when all is said and done, this regime will have done one thing positive: find a quarterback.
I think Josh Freeman is the real deal. He's what Jamarcus Russell should be. I like his size, his smarts, his background. The trick is don't make too many changes and destroy him with 5 offensive systems like Alex Smith or Jason Campbell.
It's looks like chaos with Morris, but be careful with too many changes too quick, just for the sake of Freeman. The player procurement part looks okay (not great, but not bad either). Maybe ride this out a few more seasons and then decide on the proper move to take Freeman and the franchise to the next level.
I do not believe it is fair to put most of these mistakes on Morris. Tee blame I believe should go to Mark Dominik and the owners. They failed to bring in the players that would have made Bates system effective. For example, they didn't attempt to make a more for Jason Taylor and I believe that cutting Brooks had a tremendous effect on the defense. Brooks had worked all off season with Bates to help implement the new system.
I have a feeling that Morris was not given any responsibility in front office decisions because he is a rookie head coach who was promoted before owners would have liked. (They were scared when he was interviewing with Denver)
Morris has made some coaching mistakes, but I don't put the coordinator errors and questionable personnel decisions on him... what say you Czar Dominik?
mike, in all due respect you make some great points, but you clearly arent informed in what is really going on behind one buc place. it has been reported that mark dominik and the glazers, who have taken a more hands on approach for the first time, were the ones responsible for hiring jagodzinski and bates. raheem wanted greg olson and some position coach in seattle to coach his defense, and obviously keep the tampa 2 since thats what hes grown up in, not hire bates. the FO's thinking was they wanted to surround them with former head coaches(bates was interrim, jagz was at BC). in fact, raheem wasnt even allowed to hire his own position coaches, he got overthrown by dominik. the disfunction starts at the top, and raheem is merely a puppet. its a shame that he gets beaten up so bad and his career is getting ruined for this, but i can tell you, this wasnt even close to being his fault so stop putting so much blame on him.
Like new cares, the current release of Madden is actually dated for the subsequent year. So people aren't currently playing Madden 09, but rather Madden 10. Didn't Bill SImmons tell you this?
Otherwise, great article!
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Nov 24, 2009
12:04 PM
Have the Buc's screwed up on hiring their coaches? Yes. But it doesn't look like they are screwing up player procurement, although I agree with you that you have to have an idea of your offensive/defensive identity before you can know what kind of players you need. I don't think this situation is anywhere close to the problems in Cleveland.