Shot at Bucs Staff Coaching Senior Bowl
 

The Bucs are the next NFC team in line to coach the Senior Bowl if for some reason the Lions turn down the opportunity. With the Lions firing 3 assistants it is always possible.

Teams with brand new coaching staffs are automatically ineligible to coach the game and the newer format has the non-fired coach and coaching staff of the team with the worst record coach the game.

I really feel that it has really benefited teams in the past to coach the Senior Bowl (49ers with Patrick Willis, Redskins with several players, Bucs several players) as it gives them an up close and personal look at a large number of good prospects. As fans, it will also give us a good idea of how the Bucs new staff operates. I'm really hopeful the Bucs get the privilege of coaching the game.

Would love it. But OC Mike SullivAn is being pursued by the Bears for their head coaching job. Don't think sully is ready but he's going to be a head costs sooner or later. He just has the leadership and mock and really improved the play along after the bye week.

I think he'll interview very well. Probably needs another year but I wouldn't e surprised if the Bears heavily consider him for the job.

I don't think he has the credentials right now. He did okay. The Bucs did pretty well on offense statistically, but late in the season many of the Bucs struggles came from poor playcalling, poor game management, and predictability. Getting shutout by the all-time worst defense in NFL history shouldn't help his cause much either. He's at least a year away from being ready.

That being said, stranger things have happened. He could interview extremely well and blow away the Bears. They are, however, also interviewing Broncos OC Mike McCoy who, on paper, is far more highly qualified than Sullivan. McCoy was a very good OC when he had Tebow, and now he's a great OC with Manning... though I think Mike Shula could at least seem pretty good with Manning as his QB.

Oh yeah. Definately McCoy is a better and more polished choice but he's being courted by every team with an opening. Sully could be an interesting option for Chicago who wants an offensive guy.

Some of the offensive struggles cannot all be placed on Sullivan either. I thought the play calling against the saints was good the execution was just extremely poor. In the beginning of the season he kinda went into clock killing mode too early and definately learned from that mistake after te giants debacle.

I'm just saying : I don't think he gets a HC gig this year but he will sooner or later.

Any chance the Bucs go after Lovie to come back and be D-Cor?

I would love to see Lovie Smith as our DC, but think he will end up as a HC somewhere else.

Anytime a team gets shutout you cannot possibly say that playcalling was good.

A week later I had never seen a worse game called in my life. Two or three times we had first and goal at around the 7 (with a span of 18-5 minutes left) and on both first downs we lined up in shotgun. With 18 minutes left in the game, we narrowed the gap to two TDs and we ran the ball one more time the rest of the way. We went for it both times inside the 10 with about 5 yards to go... Between Sullivan and Schiano, the playcalling and inept game management was driving me crazy. You know, even the 1999 Greatest Show on Turf Rams would've struggled if Mike Martz suddenly started calling games the way Sullivan did against the Rams. It was absolutely horrific.

If any interested team puts on tape of the Rams and last Saints game, Sullivan will definitely not get a job doing anything other than coaching QBs. Then after the Rams game, James Laurinaitis talked about all the "tells" the Rams and the coaches spotted when watching tape.... tells that undoubtedly came from watching personnel and formations running the same plays over and over again.

He's not getting another job, and if he does, he took some team for a major ride and they will want to make a return within the year.




Here's the thing about the Bears.... they are a team that is built to win now. Julius Peppers and the defense don't have much more time together as a good unit. Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall are in their primes. Matt Forte hit his peak two years ago and will probably continue to decline. Even though the offensive line is in complete shambles, this is a team that wants to win now. They can't afford to miss on this next hire. They can't afford to waste a season while the new coach figures out what he's doing. This is why, despite the Bears interviewing assistants galore, I believe they will eventually choose a retread coach with an offensive background. The names that I have in mind are: Gruden, Reid, Holmgren, Whisenhunt (though I think he;ll get the Buffalo job if he wants it), and if they go with a defensive retread (like Cowher), they will force the new coach to hire an offensive coordinator with a long history of success (Norv Turner, Shurmur, Childress). The Bears aren't messing around with this hire. Their last hire (Smith) worked out really well, but he had zero head coaching experience but that was okay as the team was young and not particularly talented.

The Bears believe that they have the talent (and the payroll) to win the Super Bowl... they're not settling for a rookie head coach this time.

I don't think Lovie would want to... he's been a head coach for a long time. I don't think he'd lower himself to do it. If he has to, he'll take a job in TV until the next gig comes around.

I can't imagine a successful HC like Smith would want to work for a 2nd year HC in Schiano.

Lovie is either taking a year off or will end up with a head coaching job else where.

I'm more interested to see where rod marinelli goes. He could come back to Tampa and coach up this defense

His contract is good through 2013 with the Bears. I'm wondering if he has been given permission to leave.

I think it depends on the coaching staff. If a veteran guy, say perhaps, Gruden, comes in, he'll keep Marinelli.

If it's someone like McCoy from Denver, he could bring in his own guy. Although it'd be pretty stupid to mess with the chemistry of that defense. That's not the problem in Chicago, although guys like Urlacher, Peppers, Tillman, and Briggs are getting up there in age.

I think Marinelli will go on his own, out of loyalty to Lovie Smith. I think a veteran team like New Orleans is better off with Smith as their DC for a year or two and then he might go back to being a head coach. Lovie is a pretty good coach, but the consistent problems on offense was his undoing. If you put him on a team where he doesn't have to touch the offense, like Tony Dungy in Indy, he will do great.

Little.

Better chance that Butch Davis steps into that role.

What about Monte Kiffin? I would love to see him come back. Plus he's been seeing the Option Reed stuff in college the last few years.

Yeah, but the read option was probably his undoing in college. He is a master of the T-2... which is a great pass defense if you can muster a rush with your front 4.. apparently it's not so great, at least collegiately, at stopping the read option.

I would love to see Kiffin back as well. He is number 3 on my list:

1) Ron Meeks-took the Colts from 29th in the league in total defense to #3 in one season. Led Colts to 5 top 10 finishes in 8 seasons (from 2002-2009). As soon as dummy Jim Caldwell got rid of him, the Colts D has been in the 20's ever since. Think of the kind of miracle worker Meeks was with the Colts.... The majority of the Colts money and draft picks went to keeping their O dominant. He had a top 10 group that was held together with scotch tape and undrafted free agents. he's currently(?) the DB coach in San Diego... what does that mean to his availability?

2) Rod Marinelli-we all know his track record. Also runs the T-2, like Meeks, but has done a lot of transforming over the years and still plays a ton of T-2 out of completely different looks and packages.

3) Monte Kiffin-we all know his track record. he's down on the list because of his age. Age hasn't stopped Dick LeBeau, it may not stop Kiffin either. I am still fully confident that Kiffin will be a much better DC in 10 years than Sheridan. Kiffin could be 112 and still be better than Sheridan.

Notice all 3 of my favorite choices are a little older and are basically career coordinators (though Marinelli was the HC for the Lions and Kiffin was the HC for two years for NC State). That's the way it should be. Continuity is the key here, Ihate seeing great up and coming coordinators leave for HC opportunities, and with these 3 guys it won't happen.

And according to PFT, the Lions and Raiders will be the two coaching staffs... DOUBLE BOO! I would've liked to see the prospects will actual coaching, I'm not sure the Raiders will even have half a staff fielded at that time. The Lions... pffffftt!

The raiders ? Lol. The lions have actually been to the playoffs and been competitive. I'm ok with that. But the Raider?

THe deal is that the lowest placing team that has their coaching staff from each conference gets the gig... Dennis Allen somehow managed to keep his job (by firing almost the entire offensive staff) and so they get the nod for the AFC. That is almost as disappointing as the Bucs not getting the shot.