Not surprising if true. I've been wondering for the last two years when he would get the axe.

 

Jon Gruden fired

Wow....stunning news

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jan/16/bucs-fire-jon-gruden-bruce-allen/

 

gm bruce allen also axed.

 

only stunning to the people who didnt see the bucs defense after kiffin decided to go to tennessee

 

I think the reason for their collapse is because of their age. They're pretty old on the defensive side and I think Gruden has to take some blame for that. I said it in the Club and I think that Gruden messed up when he and Rich McKay got into an argument, leading to McKay's departure. Gruden love veteran players, he brings in a plethora of them and we saw that in Tampa. Rich McKay likes veteran players but the difference between Gruden and McKay is the fact that McKay drafts well and prepares the younger players to step in the veterans spot when they're contracts run out. Gruden, instead of drafting young replacements, just went out and brought in more veterans. I think the acqusition of many veteran players over time was one of the reasons you saw the defense collapse in the final four or so games of the regular season.

 

i agree about the poor building methods, but disagree that the age of the defense was the cause of the implosion. we're talking about a night and day difference between the bucs before and after kiffin announced he was leaving for tennessee. a defense that has played lights out for the better part of a decade, suddenly collapses due to old age the exact moment the man behind their defense announces he is leaving. coincidence? hardly. gruden has coasted off the after effect of dungy, and the defense of kiffin for far too long. he took a team that had the best defense in the nfl, and was supposed to build an offense to match. 7 years as head coach, and the offense is no more prepared for the future now than it was when he took over. now the defense is 100% gone, and the bucs know what would happen if they let gruden go solo next year without a defense to protect him. the bucs did the right thing and canned his ***. those 4 games told everything you need to know about jon gruden. this should have happened 3 years ago, but that ring bought him undeserved time.

 

Not much surprise here. The only thing that i guess surprises me a bit is how long they waited. Most teams axed their guys within the first day after the regular season ended, bit surprised they waited this long when everyone pretty much figured it was coming. Be interesting to see where Gruden ends up.

 

one of the things i dislike most about gruden, is his coaching methods. his system is too complex. hes begging his players to fail. he needs to have 50 qbs in training camp, because 99% of them wont be able to understand what he wants them to do. i dont think he can take a player and coach to that players strengths. he forces players to adapt to match his system. that is not good coaching IMO.

 

Kiffin announced his departure roughly two weeks after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense started crumbling.

Agreed. He had success off of teams that he didn't build. Rich McKay and Tony Dungy built those teams and Gruden just came in, made a few adjustments and went off from there. Its obvious that Gruden hasn't done very well with the teams he's assembled. Dungy leaves in 2001, Gruden comes in and wins a Super Bowl in 2002. Rich McKay leaves in 2003 and Bruce Allen comes in. Do you know what is Jon Gruden's record since McKay left in 2003? 38-42.

 

I can't help but think that Raheem Morris is announced the new guy in charge in a short amount of time. With his good history in Tampa, his intelligence and work ethic, he's a good coach and he's one of my favorite candidates out there - the other being Keith Butler. Raheem Morris learned from Mike Tomlin for three years and the one year that Raheem Morris left to Kansas State to be a defensive coordinator, the Tampa secondary was ranked 22nd overall I believe. There's a reason that they begged him back after that season. If Tampa Bay hires Raheem Morris, they've got another fan of their team.

 

Ah, The good old Dave Wannstadt formula. Guaranteed to provide winning seasons whilst your core of veterans stay together to be followed by a massive implosion and reclamation project.

 

I have to chuckle at the radio over here.

They called in their sports talk guys and ruined all their Friday nights.
Radio personalities kind of cursing the Glazers for that. LOL.

I've heard Parcell's come up a couple of times.
One caller saying he thinks he misses coaching..... :lol: yeah....
Another saying that he thinks Parcells probably regrets he didn't make himself GM in Miami so he'd consider Tampa.... doubt it.

Lots of realization that they could be going through a huge rebuild project with the sports talk guys and especially the call in fans loosing it a little. Actually a little amusing when it's not your team going through it.

 

I can recall Tuna saying "I'm going to Tampa" during the closing shot of one of those Sunday Morning Football shows...then not going...:lol:

John Gruden was an okay Coach, but a terrible terrible GM...his picks were just bad..for years.

West Coast Offense Head Coaches are dropping like flies, and Gruden will be the last Head Coach/GM we will see in a very long time, the job is to tough to split time being a HC and GM, and the money involved is massive, a GM/HC falls in love with the wrong player, and he doesn't pan out, the franchise is out tens of millions of dollars.

 

If I'm Tampa, I look to Tim Ruskell as a possible GM to pair up with Raheem Morris, assuming he gets the head coaching gig. Ruskell is in Seattle right now and they're going through some changes with Jim Mora coming in and installing his own system as well as personnel. It certainly wouldn't surprise me to see Ruskell leave Seattle if he's offered another job and I think Tampa should go after him. Him and Rich McKay work the same way, from the draft process to the season.

Another guy I would be very tempted to take a look at is Bill Polians son, his name escapes me at the moment but he worked with Dungy in Indianapolis and is a candidate for the Cleveland GM job.

 

Wonder if anyone picks Gruden up now?

 

My money is still on Oakland being interested.

 

Oakland interested in Gruden? Be kind of interesting to see Gruden in college.