The latest misadventure of Team Glazernik – the ill-fated flirtation with University of Oregon head coach Chip Kelly – has left the Tampa Bay Bucs staggering without any apparent direction.
The big hole the Bucs live in these days just got considerably deeper.
Joel Glazer promised an exhaustive search on Jan. 2 in announcing the firing of Raheem Morris as head coach.
Instead, the Glazers and General Manager Mark Dominik continue to exhaust patience and possibilities.
Holy Bill Parcells, Batman!
It's one thing to get snubbed not once but twice by one of the NFL's coaching greats, the Big Tuna. You'll recall that Parcells jilted previous Tampa Bay owner Hugh Culverhouse in 1992 after a handshake agreement – and then abruptly opted to remain retired after being romanced and apparently hired by the Glazers in 2002.
But to be slapped down by a college coach with zero NFL coaching experience – regardless of how well he's done at Oregon – man, that really stings.
Kelly's sudden decision to pull out of consideration for the job shows just how far this franchise has fallen – not just in the NFC South standings and most statistical categories but also in the eyes of the outside football world.
In case you missed it, don't feel bad. It all happened in the blink of an eye – news reports of a surprise deal nearing completion between the Bucs and Kelly surfaced Sunday evening. By dawn, word that Kelly was no longer interested began sweeping across news wires and websites coast to coast.
Many of the stories were accompanied by Dominik's brief comment that tried to put a tidy, face-saving end to fiasco: “His heart is with college football and Oregon, and he's no longer being considered.”
Nice try. Sure sounds like Kelly is the one not considering the Bucs.
The fact is, Kelly's decision to take his name out of contention and the wayward search committee's decision to pursue him in the first place are both curious.
Let's start with the latter point. What led the Glazers – after a prolonged cavalcade of interviews with older, experienced NFL candidates and a perplexing lack of interest in the biggest name on the market, Jeff Fisher – to zero in Kelly?
Without question, he's an excellent college coach with a stellar track record in three seasons at the Oregon helm: a 34-6 record, appearances in three BCS Bowl games and a reputation as an offensive wiz on par with his pal, former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden, who was unceremoniously dumped by the Glazers after a 9-7 season in 2008.
Kelly was the low-profile Glazers' stealth move, a complete misdirection from the month-long parade of recycled NFL head coach candidates such as Mike Sherman, Brad Childress, Wade Phillips and Marty Schottenheimer, and a smattering of coordinators that has included Jerry Gray and Mike Zimmer.
While the media and fans focused on those names, the Glazers quietly interviewed Kelly and obviously were confident in their ability to pull a rabbit out of hat and proclaim they'd gotten just the right man for the job.
Much to their dismay and embarrassment, the rabbit bit them.
Yet why were the Glazers so positively enamored of Kelly to begin with? In spite of his ample college resume, he's still never coached a down in the NFL, put together NFL staff and faced the enormous task of rebuilding a pro team in tatters. He's spent all of his 22 years as a coach in the college ranks.
These kind of experiments often go awry (See Redskin owner Dan Snyder's full-press pursuit of former Florida Gator offensive guru Steve Spurrier, who proceeded to flop as head coach of the Redskins and hurry back to the college ranks at South Carolina).
Why would the Glazers entrust their floundering franchise to a college coach given the unstable state of the Bucs, who will enter 2012 with a 10-game losing streak and more fan disinterest than ever?
It smacks of the same kind of risk they took back in 2009 when they replaced Gruden with Morris, a position coach who'd never even worked a game as NFL coordinator. And his lack of experience on the job ultimately led to this mess.
Maybe it's a sign the Glazers plan to go forward with their young, largely inexperienced team next season – once again shunning free-agent reinforcements. It's a quasi-college team, so perhaps they liked the idea of a college coach to lead it.
We can figure out why Dominik would have loved to have Kelly on the job. A newcomer sans NFL credentials would instantly have strengthened Dominik's power base as GM, assuring him job stability as the man in charge of the draft and personnel. It's precisely the reason Dominik shouldn't have anything to do with the job search: He has too much to gain from the hiring of an inexperienced NFL coach, and too much to lose with one who comes to town with power of his own.
Then there's the lingering question of why Kelly would, at the 11th hour, remove himself from consideration.
Monday afternoon, he released this boiler-plate statement through the university: “I am flattered by the interest of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' organization. I enjoyed meeting with the Glazer family and General Manager Mark Dominik, but after numerous discussions, I concluded that I have some unfinished business to complete at the University of Oregon."
On the other hand, it could be that powerful alumnus and Nike boss Phil Knight, who holds enormous influence at Oregon athletics, prevailed on Kelly to stay put with the promise of a handsome pay raise to his $2.8 million salary – the highest salary in the Pac-12 Conference and one that could jump to $4 million with incentives.
Who knows? Just as plausible is that Kelly changed his mind – even amid the uncertainty of an NCAA investigation into Oregon recruiting violations – because he did some homework on the Bucs.
Think of it this way: Why would a coach with a stellar and growing reputation in college want to play possibly his one and only pro card with a team steeped in such dysfunction and disarray, a team that looks like it could post losing records the next three seasons – or longer – in a power-packed NFC South?
Kelly had to know he was about to hitch his wagon, piled high with collegiate accolades, to a team that in short order would likely have dragged him and his potential NFL aspirations into a ditch.
He may have looked at how Jeff Fisher never showed interest in the low-spending ownership, how Wade Phillips pulled his name out of consideration before his scheduled interview.
He may have realized that his best hope at longevity as an NFL head coach would come with a franchise with a solid foundation and willingness to spend what it takes to bring in crucial veteran talent.
In the end, the greater risk in this equation may have been the one he'd have taken on the Bucs – not vice versa.
So now, jilted once again, the Glazers and Dominik have to resume their search – with the field of promising picks for head coach and the coordinator spots growing thinner. The Dolphins scooped up Green Bay Packers offensive mastermind Joe Philbin in recent days. The Saints just replaced respected defensive coordinator Gregg Williams – hired by Fisher in St. Louis for the same job – with another talented coach, Steve Spagnuolo.
Spagnuolo's a defensive coordinator who might have helped the Bucs; now they have to face him twice a year in the same division.
The Bucs aren't only falling behind in the race to build a standout staff, they can't adequately prepare the April draft without a head coach in place. Sure, they didn't hire Gruden until mid-February 2002, but that Buccaneers team was packed with talent and poised to go all the way with one of the game's best defensive coordinators, Monte Kiffin, on the payroll.
This is a whole different ball of wax – one that's melted. Under the circumstances, the Glazers didn't really have the luxury of an “exhaustive” search. It's not so much of a problem if they're the only team looking for a head coach and assistants. But in this case, they're competing with other clubs for the cream of the coaching crop.
If the search moves at an exhaustingly deliberate pace, without a sense of urgency or a clear plan, the good candidates eventually get signed by the teams moving with greater clarity and purpose.
At this stage, the Glazers would be best off reversing field to the venerable lot of coaches they've spoken with – and handing the ball to the best of them, Schottenheimer. Judging from his track record, he stands a chance of at least getting the team back on track.
But as the events of late Sunday and early Monday demonstrated, the search is likely far from over. And that is becoming more of a problem every passing day.
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