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Morris To Take Over As Bucs Coach

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By ROY CUMMINGS

rcummings@tampatrib.com

Published: January 17, 2009

TAMPA - The more they thought about it - and they spent nearly three weeks thinking about it - the more the Glazers realized their football team was no longer what they wanted it to be.

The Bucs under Coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen had become a mediocre team that seldom made the playoffs and didn't challenge for a Super Bowl once it got there.

With that in the forefront of their minds, the Glazers made the surprising decision to fire Gruden and Allen, and promote Raheem Morris to head coach and Mark Dominik to general manager.

"We have fundamental beliefs, fundamental beliefs that have been in our blood since we got here," Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said in explaining the firings. "Character is important; championships are important; having a franchise that the community can be proud of is important.

"And this is not to say that we were totally off the direction there. But that's what we believe in, and if you believe you've gone off course a little bit, then it's our job to pick it up and put it back on course."

A National Football League source confirmed to the Tribune late Friday that the team will make Morris, 32, the league's youngest head coach and rely on Dominik's 14 years of experience with the Bucs to lead the front office.

Morris' ascent has been rapid. In December, he was promoted by the Bucs from secondary coach to defensive coordinator, replacing iconic coordinator Monte Kiffin who left to join his son Lane at the University of Tennessee.

Earlier this month, Morris was a candidate for the Denver Broncos head coaching job, impressing owner Pat Bowlen, who ultimately went with former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, also 32.

Dominik, 37, has been the team's director of pro personnel for the past eight years and has played an integral role in the acquisition of players such as left tackle Donald Penn, receiver Antonio Bryant and defensive tackle Jovan Haye.

Morris and Dominik inherit a team that since winning Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003 went 45-51 in the regular season, 9-17 in the critical month of December and 0-2 in the playoffs.

Most recently, the Bucs were the first NFL team to start the season 9-3 and miss the playoffs. Tampa Bay lost its final four games, including a 31-24 loss to Oakland at home in the finale, in which the Bucs led by 10 points in the fourth quarter.

That factored heavily into the Glazer's decision to let Gruden and Allen go, but Glazer emphasized strongly that no single factor played into the call to reconfigure the franchise's course.

"It wasn't one specific thing," Glazer said. "You have to look at everything, and you've got to take an honest evaluation and be honest with yourselves, be objective and decide if change is in the best interest of the franchise.

"No one knows for sure if it is, but we have in our mind where we want to go with this team. We will not forget what it was like to win a championship, and our passion to do that again is no different today than it was the day we signed the contract to buy this team."

It was that passion that led to Gruden's hiring in the first place. After Tony Dungy failed to get the Bucs past the conference title game, the Bucs fired him in 2002 despite his status then as the winningest coach in franchise history.

After a lengthy search, the Glazers sent four draft picks - two first-round and two second-round - and $8 million to Oakland in trade for Gruden. And Gruden immediately raised the bar of expectations by leading the Bucs to a Super Bowl title in his first season as coach, a 48-21 victory against Oakland, his former team.

Gruden remains the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl, at 39.

Now, Gruden leaves as the team's winningest coach with a regular-season record of 57-55 in seven seasons. But he was 0-2 in the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl, both losses coming at home.

Under Gruden, the Bucs won three NFC South titles, but missed the playoffs four times in six seasons.

Allen, who replaced Rich McKay as the team's general manager in 2003, could not be reached for comment. Gruden, who Glazer said took the news like a "professional," refused to comment when reached by phone.

Gruden and Allen were under contract with the Bucs for three more years, each having signed an extension after the 2007 season. The Bucs will owe the two a combined $25 million.

The team is an estimated $46 million under the projected 2009 salary cap, giving the new regime plenty of financial freedom to reshape the roster and push the team closer to Super Bowl contention.

Players expressed surprise and even shock over the decision, largely because of the timing of it and the fact the team has continued to make staff hirings in recent weeks.

"I find it shocking," fullback B.J. Askew said. "It's kind of like a kid at Christmas who wakes up and finds out all his presents are gone. It's shocking like that. I would have bet my whole contract Coach Gruden and Bruce Allen would be here. Obviously, the Buccaneers decided to go in a different direction."

This is the third time since Malcolm Glazer bought the team 14 years ago that his family has steered the franchise onto a new course. Each time the Bucs have improved on the field as a result.

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979.

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