Joel Glazer Q&A: 'Money will never be an issue'

In a sweeping state-of-the franchise overview, Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer spoke with Tribune NFL reporter Ira Kaufman on Wednesday, refuting allegations the franchise is operating on the cheap even while acknowledging the "real possibility'' of home blackouts this fall.

He said the team's current talent void has been the result of poor drafting that has prompted a thorough re-examination of Tampa Bay's scouting process heading into a critical draft.

The relaxed executive provided a methodical, in-depth explanation of the franchise's philosophy in rebuilding from scratch and Glazer praised head coach Raheem Morris for keeping the team together during a 3-13 rookie season that included a devastating 0-7 start. He said the Glazers are willing to endure the current criticism and negativity coming from fans and media because they are convinced stripping the team down and going with young players is the correct path for long-term success.

Glazer explained the club's reluctance to sign free agents at this stage of the rebuilding process and said Buc owners have not lost "one iota'' of their passion, reiterating the franchise is not for sale.

Without answering direct questions about Manchester United, Glazer indicated owning the Premier League power has not affected their day-to-day operation of the Buccaneers.

Q: How difficult was last season?
A: There's no question the first eight weeks of 2009 were the most painful I've ever experienced. To be zero-and-whatever (0-7) is something I'd never experienced. The one thing we say as an organization is we have a plan and we're going to stick with it. This is the type of plan that historically builds sustained success in the NFL. We all lived it once in Tampa. You go back and things were not good at the start, but we drafted well, we developed those players and we kept those players. That's why we had a great run. Nobody identifies with the teams that constantly change players and hover at 8-8 or 9-7. It takes thick skin and patience to go through this process and we know 3-13 isn't acceptable, but when it's part of a bigger plan and you feel you are heading in the right direction, you have to stick with it.

Q: What do you hear from your fans?
A: It's been very difficult. First, we're dealing with a bad economy. That doesn't help. Secondly, we had a bad record. That doesn't help. People want to believe in where the team is going. People are starting to understand there is a plan. Sustained success is what puts people in stadiums and that's our goal. You gain an extra appreciation for the special thing we had in Tampa. We had a collection of players which only a few teams in the past 20 or 30 years have had in terms of talent and personality. That was then. Now, it's time for a new era. We're not the first team to go through this. There hasn't been years and years of 3-13, but we recognized something at 9-7. We realized we had to take action, or we faced what could be a long decline. We were willing to take the big step back to take a step forward.

Q: How do you respond to the charge of being cheap owners?
A: Our football people have never been told no because of money. Money will never be an issue when it comes to building this team the way we think it should be built. Looking at our history, when it was necessary to spend to keep people or get someone to put us over the top, we didn't think twice about it. And we won't think twice about it, ever. Money is not an issue and that perception is false. Sometimes, I feel that charge is a scapegoat. It's the one easy, tangible thing people can grab onto. But I grab onto not drafting well for many years. That's like a slow cancer that builds and grows and eventually takes over. That is a major source of our problems and that's the problem that has to be corrected. You correct that problem and you start writing a lot of big checks. And you're happy to do it because that's a good problem to have.

Q: What about the free-agent market?
A: Especially this year, the market for free agency wasn't deep and the free agents available generally were older. Based on where we're at, that's not going to contribute to our long-term success in our view. Quite the opposite - those free agents would have suppressed the opportunity for our younger players who will be there long term for us. There's a place for free agency and we've dipped in before, but you've got to build the foundation, you've got to build the building, before you start putting the nice stuff on it.

Q: Why aren't the Bucs spending more on players?
A: I understand the perception of us being cheap, but I'll talk about the reality. The reality is you have two ways to spend - on your own players or in free agency. The big money is spent on re-signing your own players. You have to go back to 2002-04 and those draft classes. Those are the players that would have been re-signed in the last couple of years and those are big contracts. We didn't have many of those players because we didn't have some of those picks and we drafted poorly. That's a big void. Your other alternative is free agency. Where we are today, bringing in 30-year-old players for big money is not going to help our long-term success.

Q: Will the Bucs remain near the bottom rung of teams in terms of spending?
A: We have had a void in talent and we are building through the draft. That's where we are in the cycle. There were many years when we were near the top of the league in spending. Then there's the backside, where we are now, then you go back toward the top. What I respect most is when people look at the totality of what we are trying to do and the reasons why. We've got so many fans who care so much about the franchise and we appreciate their passion. But when you look at the successful franchises that have had recent runs - teams like the Bucs, the Patriots, the Eagles, the Steelers, the Colts - it was done one way. You see the common thread is the draft. And when those draft picks come out of their rookie contracts, the money starts flowing.

Q: What about re-signing some of your core players?
A: We have a system in place. Now, you are not a free agent until you are in your sixth year. Everyone's time will come. If you perform over a sustained period for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you will be rewarded. That has always been our philosophy and that will never change. What has changed is the way the NFL system works. We have never lost a player that we wanted to keep. There's never been a guy that we wanted to re-sign, one who was drafted by the Bucs and that the football people wanted to keep, that has left the team. And that will never be the case.

Q: How critical is the 2010 draft?
A: We have to draft well, period. We will never get back to the elite level unless we draft well. We can hover in the middle without drafting well, but that's not what we want to accomplish. That's not what our fans want in the long term. Our fans want to know that we are competing for a championship, that year-to-year we are in the hunt to win a Super Bowl. To be just hovering around mediocrity is not what this is about. It may keep some of the criticism off you, but the goal is to win a championship.

Q: How much pressure is on the scouting department?
A: There is pressure, but it's well-deserved pressure. This is the National Football League. If you're going to be a scout, this is your job. We know it's not an exact science, but you have to succeed in the draft. No team has sustained success without success in the draft. In the last year, we had to take a step back and look at everything we were doing in the draft. Why haven't we had the success that we would expect? We realized we kind of veered off the path in certain areas. We're going back on that path, staying true to our values. It's very easy to get caught up in a lot of things during the draft process and it's easy to take risks. We know it's not an exact science, but there are a few fundamentals - character, productivity - that have to be at your core.

Q: Why are the family's other business ventures, like Manchester United, under such scrutiny by your football fans?
A: It's because of the nature of that other business. A lot of other NFL owners are in different businesses, but not necessarily in ones that are high profile. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We are not operating any differently that we have in the past, other than we have not had the success in identifying and drafting players over the past several years. We've has some success, but not the deep success that's needed. That's the lifeblood of everything. When that gets off track, everything gets off track.

Q: Has your passion for the Bucs waned?
A: There's no greater feeling than winning a Super Bowl, period. We lived it once and when you've felt it once, you damn well want to win it again. We're happy to endure criticism and all the negativity if we're going to be on a path to give us an opportunity to have that feeling again. Our passion has not diminished one iota. In fact, in some respects I feel reinvigorated. The challenges ahead are great, but we believe it's a challenge we're up to. At the end of, we believe everyone will understand what this process has been all about.

Q: Speaking of challenges, how are ticket sales going?
A: I'd say this is the first year in many years that we expect we could very well have blackouts, based on where we're at. We hope that's not the case, but where we sit today, we don't want people to be necessarily surprised because we haven't had this in 15 years, but we're staring at the possibility for the first time in a decade and a half of having games blacked out in our local market. It's not what we want and we are working very hard to try and see that it doesn't happen, but it is a real possibility. Coming off of last season and the economy being the way it is, there's no question it's had an effect on ticket sales We've been very encouraged because we've had a lot of new sales, but by the same token, we have a lot of tickets to sell. At the same time, we have lowered some ticket prices and added some flexible plans to make our games more affordable for our fans.

Q: What are your impressions of Josh Freeman?
A: If you go back in our 15 years as owners, we've never had the young quarterback to build around. Josh came in last year to a tough situation and we are extremely excited about him. He was a rookie, so you're not going to expect perfection. History says it's very difficult for a rookie quarterback in the NFL, but Josh was very poised and we're seeing everything out of Josh you want to see in a young quarterback. This is a quarterback-driven league, but it's not easy to find the right guy. We love what we see. He still has to develop and there will be growing pains, but you have to go through a little pain for long-term gain. That's kind of our feeling about everything right now with the franchise.

Q: Assess the first year for Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik.
A: They took over a team that needed to be turned over and they had to make some very tough decisions. They took a lot of criticism for those decisions. They got off on a bad foot from a public standpoint because they had to make tough decisions on some people that had been wonderful for our franchise for so many years. Was there a learning curve the first year? No question about it. Did they learn? No question. Those two have a tremendous working relationship, which I think is really the most important thing. They're definitely on the same page. People like to focus on the negative, but we've got a team that's a lot younger now and we have some building blocks in place. The lessons learned in Year 1 will pay dividends in the future.

Q: What about the timing of firing both coordinators, Jeff Jagodzinski and Jim Bates, before the end of the season?
A: You can look at it two ways. People talk about the decision-making process in hiring the coordinators, but if you look at the end of the season, there's probably a dozen coordinators that get fired around the league. Making those decisions in-season has paid a lot of dividends for us going forward. It's fair criticism to question the process that went into the hiring ... that's fair because of the end result. But we made tough decisions that a lot of organizations would have waited to make at the end of the year. Raheem got in there and ran the defense and you saw the difference. Offensively, it was tough for Greg Olson to get going based on the late notice, but he was able to implement some things.

Q: How did Morris develop as a head coach?
A: You can never be fully prepared to be an NFL coach until you step into those shoes. As the season progressed, you saw some quick maturation from Raheem. He did a lot of good things. We weren't giving up the big plays and we started playing good Buccaneer defense. It's not to the level we once had, but we need more pieces to reach that level. The one thing that really opened my eyes throughout last season - and it was the toughest eight weeks of our NFL career - was that the team remained together. That team played hard from minute 1 to minute 60. No matter what the score was, they played hard for their coach and that locker room was together. That's a credit to Raheem. It's so easy for people to start pointing fingers and jumping off the boat. That's not what happened in Tampa.

Q: What about Dominik?
A: You look back at a Kellen Winslow. That was a tremendous acquisition for us. He got a fresh opportunity with the Buccaneers and he flourished. Look at our draft. It's early, but we have a quarterback we think we can build around. Roy Miller contributed and we're very excited about Sammie Stroughter and some of our other picks.

Q: Any chance the Buccaneers are for sale?
A: Absolutely not. It's not even contemplated. We love it. We love every minute of it, every game. Our competitive juices are really starting to flow because when you're down, that's when you rise to the occasion. When you are 3-13, you are fair game for any criticism. That being said, we don't have a long history of losing in Tampa. I'm not hiding from 3-13. We're sticking with a plan we believe will bear long-term fruit.