Greg Schiano has been a solid, if unspectacular head coach for Rutgers for the past 7 years or so, which in the context of Rutgers football, we suppose is fairly impressive.
Somehow, however, his warranted a head coaching position for Schiano at the NFL level with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who dismissed previous coach Raheem Morris after three seasons.
Now, I have no idea whether Schiano will be a successful head coach in the NFL -- I suspect he won't be, but he could be well suited to the pro game -- but what I don't understand is what exactly replacing Morris with Schiano is meant to accomplish.
In saying this, I should point out I've studied very little of the Morris situation. Perhaps those closer to the Bucs could list all the ways he's a horrendous football coach, obviously his record would be relatively fair evidence. But this is a guy whose team went a surprising 10-6 a season ago, with the young, exuberant Morris given much of the credit.
So, sure, the team was terrible this year, and blaming the head man is understandable. But his bailing on a young, promising head coach after only three years on the job for Greg Schiano really an upgrade. It's one of those questions I think more NFL teams should consider.
One imagines that being an NFL coach is a difficult job, a job that it could also be imagined that it takes some time to really get good at. But teams these days give up on head coaches so quickly it can make your head spin. Which isn't that difficult to understand, it's such an easy move for ownership to try and signal to fans that they are at least doing SOMETHING to improve the team. Building an actual good team is difficult and can take time, but firing a head coach is instant. You just have to call in the asshole, hand him his walking papers and everyone feels better immediately.
But you're the Tampa Bay fucking Bucs, a team playing under less media and fan pressure than perhaps any in the league. Obviously, that's not a sound business strategy, but given the economic realities of the NFL, there is a floor to how poorly a team's finances can be. In other words, they can afford to give a young coach a few years to grow into the job.
But patience is not a virtue in professional sports, so in comes Schiano. But how does that hiring do anything. Does hiring Schiano really sell any tickets? Are fans excited by this hire? Obviously, perhaps the team's brass just feels that he's a big upgrade over Morris, but based on what? The fact that the Scarlet Knights have been relatively successful in a thoroughly mediocre Big East conference was just too much to pass up?
None of which is to say I know Morris is a good coach, I really have no idea. It just feels like there's something to be said for giving these coaches a little time to grow into their jobs. You don't get to be an NFL head coach without having demonstrated a pretty decent ability to coach football, it would seem it might be wise to give these fellas a little bit of time to actually do the job you were so confident they could do only a year or so ago.
Or just fire the bums, it certainly is more satisfying.
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