I tried to tell everyone that would listen that Gruden had worn out his welcome in Tampa...

Gruden, GM Out In Tampa

The Bucs got rid of Tony Dungy before they hired Gruden. Two coaches who won Super Bowls. They must know what they're doing. We'll see.

I think Coughlin and Belichick are the only two coaches who are still active now that have won a Super Bowl.

I knew not taking that Utay job was gonna come back to haunt him. Karma.

Bucs to hire Raheem Morris after firing Jon Gruden

TAMPA — Hours after firing Jon Gruden in a surprise move, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers settled on defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their new coach.
The move to promote the 32-year-old Morris was confirmed Friday night by a person familiar with the decision who requested anonymity because the team had not yet scheduled an official announcement.

Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen were dismissed earlier in the day, three weeks after the team completed one of the biggest collapses in NFL history, losing four straight games following a 9-3 start to miss the playoffs.

Director of pro personnel Mark Dominik, who has been with the Bucs for 14 seasons, will replace Allen.

Gruden won a Super Bowl that bought him some time with the Buccaneers, but ultimately it couldn't save his job.

Gruden was a rising star when he was hired seven years ago to get a team built by Tony Dungy to the Super Bowl. But Gruden only guided the Bucs to the postseason twice after becoming the youngest coach to win the NFL title in January 2003.

Morris has been a fast climber, too. He was the Bucs' defensive back coach the past two seasons, and was promoted to defensive coordinator on Christmas Day, filling a vacancy that opened for next season when Monte Kiffin decided to join his son, Lane, at the University of Tennessee.

The former Hofstra player and assistant coach, who recently interviewed for the opening to replace Mike Shanahan with the Denver Broncos, has been with Tampa Bay for six seasons over two stints.

Morris initially joined Gruden's staff as a defensive quality assistant in 2002, was a defensive assistant in 2003 and assistant defensive backs coach for the next two seasons before spending one year as defensive coordinator at Kansas State.

Dominik joined the Bucs in 1995 and served in a number of personnel and scouting positions before being named director of pro personnel eight years ago.

Gruden's Super Bowl win after the 2002 season wasn't nearly enough for the sons of owner Malcolm Glazer, who took their time before deciding they had seen enough of aging quarterbacks, mediocre drafts and a coach and general manager who often pinned the blame for poor finishes on injuries.

Gruden went 60-57 in seven seasons, including a 3-2 mark in the playoffs. Allen was general manager for the last five seasons in a reunion of a relationship that began when both were with the Raiders.

"These decisions are never easy. This is the toughest decision you can make for an NFL franchise. ... Jon and Bruce are consummate professionals. They've poured their heart and soul into this franchise," Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer said. "It's really been an honor to work with them. They gave their all."

Gruden's dismissal came on a day when they were seemingly conducting offseason business as susual. The team annoucned just two hours before the firing that it had fired former Lions defensive coordinator Joe Barry to be its linebackers coach.

The Bucs were tied for first place in the NFC South heading into December, but finished with losses to Carolina and Atlanta on the road and San Diego and Oakland at home, where they had been 6-0. One more win would have landed a NFC wild-card berth.

The 9-7 record this season gave Gruden consecutive winning records for the first time since arriving in Tampa Bay, yet still left the Bucs out of the playoffs for the fourth time in six years and prompted the Glazer family to reevaluate the direction of the franchise.

"Any time a season ends, especially the way our season ended, it's a very, very emotional time. And one thing we always like to do is not act on emotion, let things simmer down, think through things carefully and not make any quick, rash decisions," Glazer said.

"After taking a lot of time to look at our franchise, look where it's been, look where it is, look where we want to go, we just felt this was the time for a change."

Gruden was the second head coach who had won a Super Bowl dismissed this offseason. The Denver Broncos fired Mike Shananan last month. Also, Mike Holmgren (Seattle Seahawks) and Tony Dungy (Indianapolis Colts), also Super Bowl-winning coaches, stepped down.

Of the head coaches active in the NFL right now, only Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots and Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants have Super Bowl wins on their resumes.

The Glazers fired Dungy after consecutive first-round playoff losses in Philadelphia and used four high draft picks — two No. 1s and two No. 2s — and $8 million cash to pry Gruden away from the Raiders following the 2001 season.

He was an instant hit, retooling an inept offense and riding a defense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL to the Super Bowl.

Interestingly, his firing came four days after Dungy announced his retirement after a successful seven-year run that included one NFL title with the Indianapolis Colts.

Gruden, who had three years remaining on a contract extension he received after winning the NFC South in 2007, leaves as the winningest coach in franchise history.

But since going 15-4, including the Super Bowl, in his first season with the Bucs, Gruden went 45-53 and made quick exits from the playoffs at home after winning division titles in 2005 and 2007.

This season's collapse continued a trend of playing poorly late in the year. Since winning the Super Bowl, Tampa Bay is 9-17 in the month of December.

"This isn't a decision that's made on one play or one game or one week or one thing," Glazer said. "You look at the totality of the situation, evaluate it, look at where your franchise is. For us, the goal is to build a championship team that can compete year in and year out."

Gruden and Allen both received contract extensions last winter after the Bucs went 9-7 and won the NFC South for the second time in three seasons, however Glazer said that was not a consideration in Friday's decision.

"At the end of every season we sit back and look at everything. We did that last year and went forward with the extensions," Glazer said.

"But at the end of the day, every year we feel we owe it to this football team and this community to do a good honest assessment of our franchise. If at any point, we feel that change is in our best interest, we feel we have to make that change. That's where we got to in this situation. You can't let decisions you made a year ago affect a decision today."

The team co-chairman said there's no timetable for naming a successor. When Dungy was fired, the Glazers conducted a meandering search that lasted more than a month after a deal they had to lure Bill Parcells out of retirement fell apart.

They settled on Gruden, who had one year left on his contract in Oakland, after also considering Marvin Lewis and Steve Mariucci for the opening.

Glazer declined to answer questions about possible successors.

"In our mind, there's a plan of where we want to go," he said. "We've thought it through very carefully. It will become apparent as we move along."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/...ired_N.htm

Riddle me this.

How can legitimate and proven coaches like Gruden, Dungy, Shanahan, Cowher, and Holmgren be unemployed yet a Quaker Oats lookin' buffoon like Wade Phillips still be drawing a paycheck as a head coach in the NFL?

Simple...when you have a TOTALLY CLUELESS General Manager / Owner like Jerruh Jones running the gravy train off the tracks in Big D!!

Nice guy Quaker Oats runs those cupcake summer camps so the end result is those Little Debbie December runs by the most over-hyped "team" in the NFL.
Puhleeeeeeeze Jerruh, fire YOURSELF, and let a competent football man run the personnel side. You are a grandstanding marketing minded rich guy trying to quasi-coach through the Quaker Oats of the world.

Yes, I am also a frustrated Dallas fan. To see that once dominant and proud franchise reduced to the NFL version of "Days of Our Lives" is nauseating.

good gravy - where is an editor when you need one?


Gruden's dismissal came on a day when they were seemingly conducting offseason business as susual. The team annoucned just two hours before the firing that it had fired former Lions defensive coordinator Joe Barry to be its linebackers coach.

How much to get Gruden here?

Maybe the people with the money here at Memphis could learn from the Glazers.

As a Buc fan, I am happy with Allen being gone. Gruden was a surprise with the timing, but the man did nothing besides his first year when he had Tony's team. Very surprised though.

I heard that Gruden was not going to be fired- but that he went nutso when they told him about the firing of the GM...so they told him he could go to.

(01-17-2009 05:18 PM)Dak10 Wrote:  Maybe the people with the money here at Memphis could learn from the Glazers.

As a Buc fan, I am happy with Allen being gone. Gruden was a surprise with the timing, but the man did nothing besides his first year when he had Tony's team. Very surprised though.

Agreed. The minute Gruden threw a fit and had Rich McKay ousted, I knew we were headed for trouble.....especially after convincing the Glazers to hire his old buddy Bruce Allen, who hired him in Oakland.

(01-17-2009 03:59 PM)boss man Wrote:  Riddle me this.

How can legitimate and proven coaches like Gruden, Dungy, Shanahan, Cowher, and Holmgren be unemployed yet a Quaker Oats lookin' buffoon like Wade Phillips still be drawing a paycheck as a head coach in the NFL?

Simple...when you have a TOTALLY CLUELESS General Manager / Owner like Jerruh Jones running the gravy train off the tracks in Big D!!

Nice guy Quaker Oats runs those cupcake summer camps so the end result is those Little Debbie December runs by the most over-hyped "team" in the NFL.
Puhleeeeeeeze Jerruh, fire YOURSELF, and let a competent football man run the personnel side. You are a grandstanding marketing minded rich guy trying to quasi-coach through the Quaker Oats of the world.

Yes, I am also a frustrated Dallas fan. To see that once dominant and proud franchise reduced to the NFL version of "Days of Our Lives" is nauseating.

I think the Cowboy's demise has more to do with Jerry Jones. JJ is the new Al Davis. JJ calls all of the shots, not the GM.