It hasn’t taken Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano that long to ruffle the feathers of some people in the National Football League. Prior to becoming the head coach of the Buccaneers last season, Schiano spent the previous 11 years in the collegiate ranks as the head football coach at Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, Schiano became popular with some NFL scouts for all the wrong reasons as he would make it extremely difficult for the scouts to evaluate his players. Last year in his second game as an NFL head coach, Schiano irritated New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. With the Giants leading 41-34 in the waning seconds of the game, Schiano informed his defensive line to fire off on the snap of the football to attempt to force a fumble when the Giants were taking a knee in the victory formation. Coughlin was enraged over the matter and let Schiano know about it after the game when the two men met at midfield. There have been rumblings already coming out of Tampa this season that new Bucs cornerback Darrelle Revis isn’t happy. Revis was acquired from the New York Jets this past off-season and he was given a six-year, $96 million contract. To add to the Buccaneer problems, Schiano has now decided to bench starting quarterback Josh Freeman.
The main problem that is hindering Freeman’s relationship with his current head coach is the fact that Schiano did not draft him. Freeman was drafted by the Buccaneers in 2009 by former Bucs head coach Raheem Morris. Since Schiano has taken over as Bucs head coach he has never come out publicly and given his unequivocal support of Freeman.
From his first day on the job Schiano characterized the team’s building process as an “open competition” at every position. Freeman is in the last year of his contract and Schiano and Buccaneers general manager Mark Domink have not given him an extension.
The extension is now a mute point as Schiano has decided to bench Freeman after the team’s 0-3 start in favor of rookie quarterback Mike Glennon.
Last season Freeman passed for 4,065 yards and 27 touchdowns which were both career highs, but his days in Tampa appear to be numbered.
The Buccaneers haven’t won a game this season, but in two of those three losses they held a lead with under 30 seconds left in the game. In Week 1 against the Jets, Freeman led the Buccaneers down for the go-ahead field goal, but as quick as the offense gave Tampa the lead, the defense gave it right back as the Jets kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired. In Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints, the Bucs led until the final seconds of the game when Saints kicker Garrett Hartley gave his team the 16-14 victory. I expected Freeman to come in this season and build off what he had achieved in 2012, but the disconnect between he and Schiano will not allow that to happen in Tampa Bay.
This is nothing new to Schiano as he has not shown patience his quarterbacks. In his last four seasons at Rutgers, Schiano used four different quarterbacks which resulted in one quarterback (Tom Savage) transferring.
In the NFL, quarterbacks don’t transfer, but they can be traded. In the case of Freeman he can wait until the off-season to choose a new NFL employer as he is a pending free agent. Freeman isn’t without faults as he was not voted by his teammates as captain this season and he missed the team’s photo at the beginning of the season, but you wonder if his relationship with Schiano has changed how he is viewed in the Buccaneers facility by his teammates?
What Schiano tried against the Giants last season cannot fly in the NFL because there are only 53 players an active NFL roster while there are 85 football players on scholarship in college. Most teams also do not have the luxury of having four or more quarterbacks on the depth chart in the manner that you will see in college.
To me Schiano received his head coaching position with Buccaneers because the new trend in the NFL is for teams to dip into the collegiate ranks in search of their next head coach. Teams have seen the recent success of current Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh. As I stated recently when I was discussing current Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, Carroll and Harbaugh were extremely successful in college at the University of Southern California and Stanford respectively, but they both had past lives in the NFL. Carroll was the former head coach of the Jets and New England Patriots while Harbaugh was an NFL quarterback for 15 seasons.
In his 11 seasons at Rutgers, Schiano built a program that was a perennial loser into a team that could compete in the Big East Conference. Schiano also enjoyed the luxury of being the main figure of the Rutgers football program as he was able to control the lives of young men. The difference in the NFL is that you are dealing with grown men and the head coach is not the focal point of the organization. These men are fathers, providers, and the main figureheads in their own households so the playing surface has changed. Current University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban is arguably one of the best college football head coaches ever, but he couldn’t translate that to success with the Miami Dolphins from 2006-2007. There is a fine line in achieving success in the NFL. Freeman is only the tip of the iceberg for Schiano in Tampa and it won’t be long before he alienates his veteran players and causes a mutiny.
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