Bucs Fire Gruden, Allen
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fired their former Super Bowl-winning coach, Jon Gruden, and General Manager Bruce Allen.
The team missed the playoffs this season with a record of 9-7.
"We will be forever grateful to Jon for bringing us the Super Bowl title, and we thank Bruce for his contributions to our franchise," Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a written statement released by the club. "However, after careful consideration, we feel that this decision is in the best interest of our organization moving forward."
The move came 19 days after the Buccaneers ended their season with a defeat to the Oakland Raiders that kept them from reaching the postseason. The Buccaneers ended the season on a four-game losing streak after a 9-3 start.
Gruden won the Super Bowl in his first season with the team in 2002, but failed to get a playoff victory in the six seasons since then. The Buccaneers were 0-2 in the postseason over that time.
Gruden had a record of 60-57 in seven seasons with the Buccaneers, including 3-2 in the postseason. He has a mark of 100-85 in 11 seasons as an NFL head coach with the Raiders and Buccaneers, including 5-4 in the postseason.
Gruden's firing means that at least 10 NFL teams will change coaches between the beginning of this season and the start of next season.
The Raiders, St. Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers fired coaches during the season. the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Denver Broncos and now the Buccaneers have fired coaches since then, and the Seattle Seahawks' Mike Holmgren and the Indianapolis Colts' Tony Dungy retired.
The coaching turnover could reach 11 teams if the Kansas City Chiefs fire Herman Edwards.
Gruden joins the Broncos' Mike Shanahan as former Super Bowl-winning head coaches who have been fired this offseason. Holmgren and Dungy also won Super Bowls, so four Super Bowl-winning coaches have lost jobs or walked away from them since the conclusion of the regular season.
Allen, the son of late Hall of Fame coach George Allen, had been the Buccaneers' general manager since 2004. Prior to that, he'd spent nine seasons in the Raiders' front office.
By
Mark Maske
|
January 16, 2009; 6:16 PM ET
| Category:
Buccaneers
,
Coaching Carousel
Save & Share:
Previous: Boldin Set to Play |
Next: Cowboys Oust D-Coordinator
Posted by: ggerke1 | January 17, 2009 8:37 AM
Tony Dungy won a super bowl because of Peyton Manning. If he stays in Tampa, he never wins.
Tony Dungy should have lost the Super Bowl for the sole reason of kicking to Devin hester on the opening kick-off. "My special teams unit wants to kick to him..."
Nice guy, nice defense with Bob Sanders.
Can he take Lovie in retirement with him?????
Posted by: ggerke1 | January 17, 2009 8:29 AM
will the washington redskins be int=interested in Bruce Allen?
Posted by: gregoryw1965 | January 17, 2009 7:09 AM
One thing I'll say for the Tampa ownership: they make me feel better about Dan Snyder.
Posted by: Samson151 | January 16, 2009 9:14 PM
The Glazers are the enemy.
Posted by: shaneskiser | January 16, 2009 8:01 PM
1) Dungy won the Buc's ring.
2) The Glazers are the enemy.
Posted by: shaneskiser | January 16, 2009 7:59 PM
If you ask me, it was idiotic to fire Tony Dungy in the first place, and it's probably idiotic to have fired Jon Gruden for a four-game losing streak in an otherwise good season.
So what does that tell you about the Glazers? If there's an idiot move to be made, count on them to make it.
Posted by: Samson151 | January 16, 2009 7:03 PM
Gruden & the BUCS were in the drivers seat, to win the division with a record of 9-3 with 4 games to play. All the Bucs had to do, was win 1 game to make playoffs. Win all 4 & we would have had a bye week, with the possibility of playing AT HOME for the SUPER BOWL. 1st time the home team would have played in their home stadium.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. . . . The SuperBowl The Bucs DID win, was Tony Dungy's team. Tony built that team. Tony got fired by the Glazer family, the Glazers brought in Jon Gruden, and Gruden was coaching against his former team & knew all the signals & weaknessess.
A team that was $30 million UNDER salary cap & controled their post season fate & blew it. . . tells me how bad the coach (Jon Gruden)really wanted to win.
Posted by: Robbnitafl | January 16, 2009 6:55 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Tampa would have went places with Jerry Angelo calling the offensive shots...dont' think so.
Gotta respect a franchise on the hook for some money to fire a coach and move on because the coach will not be a super bowl winning coach in Tampa again.
Chicago is stuck with the genius of Lovie Smith...he is the worst game day coach in the NFL.