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Garcia: It Was Time For Bucs To Make A Change

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TBO.com

Published: January 22, 2009

Quarterback Jeff Garcia admitted Tuesday that being Jon Gruden's quarterback was difficult and that there were times the recently fired Bucs coach "rubbed me wrong."

Garcia, who is a free agent after two years with Tampa Bay, was surprised Gruden was fired three weeks after the season but said it was time for a change.

Garcia, 38, led the Bucs to the playoffs in 2007, but his relationship with Gruden apparently began to sour in training camp. That's when the team reportedly pursued an unretiring Brett Favre and a calf injury forced Garcia to miss the preseason. He was also benched for three games after a rusty performance in the season-opening loss at New Orleans. He knows he's not the only player to be in Gruden's doghouse.

"There were players here in the past before I got here that had their own experiences of how they were treated or how they were misled or whatever it may have been," Garcia said while appearing at a safety clinic for students at Sulphur Springs Elementary School.

"For the two years I was here, I enjoyed my experiences on the field with Coach Gruden, but there were obviously things that obviously rubbed me wrong, and I'm sure they were not easy to deal with."

The Bucs built a 9-3 record, but lost four straight games in December to miss the playoffs. Gruden's teams were 2-12 in the season's final month over the past three years. Garcia said players share the blame but was understood it was probably time for Gruden to go.

"We have to look at ourselves first and foremost, but everyone has to take responsibility," he said. "With Jon being the head coach, the head guy here for a number of years and having different players come in and come out and yet at the end of the season not really changing as far how the team is finishing outside of his first season, then that's something that needs to be focused on, and you need to find answers.

"If that answer is changing the head coach and changing up the staff a little bit, then that's what [team ownership] had to do. It's unfortunate for Jon. He had good run here, for the most part. He will land back on his feet in no time."

Garcia said he is open to returning to the team under new coach Raheem Morris. "Whether that option or opportunity is given to me is not up to me, it's up to the team," he said.

Garcia is impressed with Morris.

"I think the vision of him is that he's a rising star," Garcia said. "He's a young guy who has tremendous motivation, tremendous excitement within himself. He has a great rapport with the players that he has coached and even the players that maybe he didn't coach their position but have been around him. He has a great way of being able to relate to them.

"As much as we don't know a whole lot about Coach Morris, because of being a defensive backs coach and not really being in a defensive coordinator position, whatever it may be, I think he has the energy and will to be successful, and I think he'll be a great addition to this team."

Tribune photographer Cliff McBride contributed to this report.

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