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Dominik Tutored By Some Of Best In The Business

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 18, 2009

TAMPA - Mark Dominik came to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14 years ago for what was basically a tryout. At least that's how Rich McKay, the general manager at the time, remembers things.

"We had a system in place then where we'd bring a guy in on the pro side for a year and see if he had a future," McKay said. "Most teams didn't even have a pro scouting department then; it was all about scouting college.

"What we found was that Mark was very eager, a hard worker, and was excellent at gathering information and figuring out what other teams were doing."

Thus was launched a career built basically by being indispensable, which will be perhaps Dominik's greatest strength as he moves into the chair occupied by McKay and, most recently, Bruce Allen.

As Tampa Bay's new GM, Dominik will oversee - he doesn't like this word, but we have to use it anyway - the "rebuilding" of the Bucs. We don't know his plans for that because he was a little short on specifics Saturday at a media gathering for him and new head coach Raheem Morris.

Actually, there were no specifics at all about how he plans to address a roster filled with questions about quarterback, receiver, defensive line - just about everything. It's probably just as well. Approach and philosophy are more important than who they might try to sign at quarterback anyway.

On that, we need only look at how he got here.

Consistency Matters Most

The Bucs had a superstar front office when Dominik joined them in 1995 as a pro personnel assistant. There was McKay, who oversaw the transition from laughingstock to contender. Tim Ruskell went from the Bucs to Seattle, where he built a team that went to the Super Bowl. Jerry Angelo did the same in Chicago.

"Mark's a real smart guy who has a real knack for finding players," Ruskell said. "I remember with us that he did a good job in helping us find depth and special teams guys, low-cost guys who step up and surprise you. You're always looking for those."

Dominik's fingerprints are on such Bucs additions as Jovan Haye and Antonio Bryant, players who might have gotten otherwise overlooked. Maybe he likes those kinds of guys because he can relate.

"He's a grinder," Ruskell said. "No job was too small for him. He did whatever he was asked to do and never complained. He probably had to go get his share of pizza for everyone and I'm sure there were a number of times he had to get up out of bed at midnight to go pick up a player at the airport."

McKay always believed it more important to build a team that had a chance to compete for a title every year instead of re-inventing itself at the first sign of things going south. One reason Dominik got this job is because the Bucs of recent seasons were consistent only in the fact they were consistently maddening. Up one year, spiraling toward the ground in a fireball the next.

To change that, you change the culture. You value consistency and you learn to trust. You try to build something that can endure. He has not been brought in to maintain the status quo.

"I want to create an atmosphere in Tampa that this is a place that people want to be," he said.

A Well-Considered Move

The word was out there about Dominik. He made a strong run recently at the Kansas City GM job and he probably would have been gone before long without this chance. But Ruskell said that's probably not why his one-time protege got the job.

"The Glazers always think their movements out," he said. "This wasn't done hastily. I'm sure they talked it out thoroughly and decided this was the right thing to do. From a league standpoint, there might be people who don't know Mark. But who knows him better than the Glazers do?"

Well, Raheem Morris knows him pretty well, from the days of pizza and midnight runs to the airport.

"We used to sit in his office and look at the board, stare at the board, and talk about all types of players - offense, defense," Morris said. "I'm kind of nosy. I've always had that kind of nosy attitude about who we're going to take and Mark Dominik is probably the only person who wanted to listen at that point."

They're the head of the team now and that's how Dominik looks at it. It is a team. He'll listen to his coach, his assistants, his scouts. For all we know, the pizza delivery guy may even get a say. Remember, Dominik is all about gathering as much information as possible. And no job is too small.

Good thing.

The job ahead is anything but small. But at least he passed the tryout.

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