TAMPA, Fla. — The Greg Schiano regime shifted into a higher gear this week at One Buc Place with players at the voluntary, three-day minicamp moving at a new pace.
Any cruise control from the previous Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaching regime was replaced by Schiano’s emphasis on going through practice in overdrive. Players did everything from stretching to sprints at a tempo and intensity they weren’t accustomed to during the Raheem Morris era.
“We’re teaching the way we do things,” Schiano said after the first day of drills this week. “That covers a lot of different areas: effort, precision, schematics, all those things. And if you have to come out of it with one thing, you want them to understand the tempo with which we practice and the attention to detail that’s required to play this game effectively.”
Though working at such a fast clip might be different for many Bucs, who did not make players available for interviews after the first workout, Schiano stressed it’s fundamental to his coaching approach.
“It’s the only way I’ve ever done it wherever I’ve been,” he said. “So that’s the way I know.”
Schiano had given the team a sense of what to expect several weeks ago when the strength and conditioning phase began. And so far he’s been happy with how players have responded.
“I’d say our whole needs (to get in better shape), but . . . I don’t want them to be in tip-top shape right now,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s very hard to stay at that level. I thought to go out there and go as long as we did and as hard as we did, I was pleased. Now let’s see can we wake up tomorrow and do it again. But it’s a great way to set the level and the tempo of what it’s going to be around here. It’s never failed: If everybody rises up to that level, it’ll happen.”
Schiano is also using the time to observe, scribble down notes and experiment with different combinations, including placing 37-year-old cornerback Ronde Barber at safety during the first practice. Could that be a place the 16th-year veteran might see action this season in addition to corner, especially since the Bucs parted ways earlier in the week with safety Tanard Jackson?
“I think Ronde can certainly do it and did a good job (Tuesday) doing it,” Schiano said. “We’ll see. Again, how do we get the best 11 on the field?”
While the Bucs are immersed in learning a new way, their rookie NFL head coach finds himself dealing with a learning curve of his own regarding his players’ strengths and weaknesses. Where does he stand in that process?
“I’m certainly behind guys who have coached their team before; there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “From a personnel standpoint, (I have) some real catching up to do. I watched these tapes a lot harder than I might if it were my second or third year as head coach, because I’d know the guys. I’m trying to figure out how they move, how they react, how they do when they get a little fatigued. So there’s more to learn than just the scheme when you’re watching the tape.
“The other thing about being a new head coach in this league, everything takes a little longer. I don’t have a familiarity with some of the tasks that I have to do. So I look forward to the second cycle, but I enjoy the heck out of the first one. It’s just exciting for me after doing the same thing for 11 years (as head coach at Rutgers).”
One of the enjoyable aspects to Schiano and his coaching staff has been putting into practice some of the classroom lessons they’ve been working on with players.
“Absolutely, that’s the fun part of it,” he said. “We’re not going to overload them with stuff. But we’re not going to just go out and repeat what we did today. We’re going to give them more (Wednesday) and then more on Thursday, just so they get a taste of doing it.
“It’s kind of weird because you get this opportunity to do the minicamp, so you get to play 11-on-11 football a little bit and next week we’ve got to go back to individual drills and things like that, and strength and conditioning. I’m not complaining, because I’m glad we had this opportunity. It serves as a good kind of springboard now.”
At the core, Schiano sees this three-day session as a key opportunity to create trust and understanding with the players — and vice versa.
“It’s just like any relationship — we’re building a relationship, and they’re learning more about me and the staff and we’re learning more about them,” he said. “And as you go through, the good things you get excited about and the not-so-good things you get frustrated with. That’s all part of building a relationship and learning how to trust each other. We’ve got to build that before we can really have anything.”
One sign of how things have changed came in a basic drill more common at the youth level: players starting out on all fours, jumping to their feet and then sprinting all out. Schiano said he wasn’t worried about how that might go over with veterans.
“Not really, because I know football players are football players,” he said. “And they’re competitors, so when you challenge them they rise up to the challenge. If you’ve got the right guys, they do. And I believe, in what I’ve seen and gotten to know about these guys, that we do. “
Schiano knows it will take a little time, but he’s encouraged by the first step.
“I thought they did a great job,” he said. “We’ve talked a bunch as a group. I said, ‘Change is hard. It’s not good or bad, it’s just hard because you’re used to one thing.’ But they’ll get used to this, and this will be the norm.”
