The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally found their head coach in Greg Schiano.
Schiano had been the head coach at Rutgers University since 2001 and he
made The Scarlet Knights respectable. Prior to Schiano’s arrival,
Rutgers had not made a bowl game since 1979. Since 2005, The Scarlet
Knigts have made six bowl games winning five of those contests. Schiano
flew under the radar as a candidate for The Bucs job. Tampa Bay had
previously flirted with Mike Sherman and Marty Schottenheimer who had
both been head coaches in The National Football League. It will be
interesting to see how Schiano will fare in the pro ranks.
Schiano last coached in The NFL in 1998 as a defensive assistant with
The Chicago Bears. Schiano finished his tenure at Rutgers with a record
of 67-67 and a conference record of 28-48. Rutgers would beat up on The
Norfolk State’s of the world while struggling against schools such as
The West Virginia Mountaineers in The Big East Conference
Schiano has gone from one of the weakest conferences in college
football to the toughest in The NFL. In The NFC South, The Buccaneers
must contend with The Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and Carolina
Panthers for division supremacy. Each of these teams has a Pro Bowl
quarterback. The Falcons have Matt Ryan, The Saints have Drew Brees, and
The Panthers have Cam Newton. Of Tampa’s 16 games for next season, only
six of those will be against teams that had losing records in 2011.
Schiano inherits a team that was the youngest team in The NFL and
that also appeared to “quit” on former Buccaneer head coach Raheem
Morris. Morris’ Bucs went 10-6 in 2010 only to finish 4-12 in 2011 in
which Tampa Bay lost their last nine games of the season. Schiano’s
hiring continues the current trend in The NFL of teams turning to the
college ranks. In 2010, The Seattle Seahwaks were able to sway Pete
Carroll away from The University of Southern California to become the
franchise’s head coach. Last year saw Stanford’s head coach Jim Harbaugh
take over The San Francisco 49ers. Both men were able to win The NFC
West in their first seasons respectively with Harbaugh leading The
Niners to The NFC Championship Game. Carroll had previous experience in
The NFL as a head coach with The New York Jets and New England Patriots
while Harbaugh played in The NFL for 14 seasons. While Carroll and
Harbaugh coached in college, they each achieved more success than
Schiano. Carroll’s USC Trojan teams won seven consecutive Pac-10
Championships. While at Stanford, Harbaugh never won a Pac-10
Championship, but The Cardinal finished in the top 5 in his last season.
The Pac-10 Conference which in now The Pac-12 is a much tougher
conference than The Big East. For the last two seasons, The Pac-12 sent
multiple teams to The Bowl Championship Series. In both seasons it was
The Oregon Ducks and The Cardinal.The UConn Huskies represented The Big
East in 2010 and they were unranked. Now Schiano has to do it on the
biggest stage for football.
Prior to Schiano’s arrival in Piscataway, New Jersey The Scarlet Knights
were a perennial 2-win team. Schiano’s Scarlet Knights could go 7-5 or
8-4, but they could never break into the upper echelon of college
programs. Schiano is now in a situation where the middle of the road
will not cut it. Schiano always had a great work ethic in college and I
am sure that he will take that to Tampa Bay. Hopefully for Schiano his
work ethic can rub off on a team that seemed lethargic at times in 2011.
Going forward Schiano must figure out how to fix the defense in Tampa
Bay. The Bucs finished 2011 ranked 30th in total defense. General
manager Mark Dominik has tried to upgrade the defensive line in the past
few drafts. Dominik has drafted Brian Price, Gerald McCoy, Da’Quan
Bowers, and Adrian Clayborn with small results. Last season, Tampa Bay
only tallied 23 sacks which ranked last in The NFL. Schiano must also
get quarterback Josh Freeman back on the right track. Freeman is coming
off of a season in which he threw 16 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. In
2010, Freeman threw 25 touchdowns to only six interceptions and The
Bucs won 10 games that year as well. Freeman is only 24-years old and he
has tremendous upside; by far one of the best quarterbacks that Schiano
has ever been around.
Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer decided to go young a few years ago in
hiring Morris who had a few players older than him on the roster. Now
Glazer is going with a man that has not stepped onto a professional
football field since The Clinton Administration in The White House. It
will be only a matter of time before we see if this was the right move
for Schiano and The Bucs.
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