Bucs Make It Official: Greg Schiano Is The New Head Coach

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According to Marvez’s initial report, Davis would serve as a senior defensive assistant on Schiano’s staff. Schiano spent two seasons working as the defensive coordinator under Davis with the Miami Hurricanes.

For more on Schiano’s coaching staff, be sure to check out Buccaneers blog Bucs Nation.

For more on the parties involved, visit Buccaneers blog Bucs Nation and UNC blog Carolina March, which is probably a little preoccupied right now.

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Schiano is tasked with turning around a franchise that is coming off a 4-12 season that got previous coach Raheem Morris fired after three years. That season, as well as Morris’ first in which the team went 3-13, have forced Bucs fans to relive a period of their history they probably hoped was well past them. Prior to Tony Dungy leading to the Bucs to 10-6 record in 1997, the franchise had enjoyed just two winning seasons in the first 21 years of existence. The Bucs went on to win at least nine games in eight of the next 12 seasons, and also won their only Super Bowl.

For more on Schiano’s hiring, be sure to check out Buccaneers blog Bucs Nation.

Schiano’s deal with the Bucs will be for five years, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The two sides spoke early on in the process and the Glazer family, who owns the Bucs, did a lot of research on Schiano as a potential NFL candidate talking to people around the league, including Bill Belichick, who spoke highly of Schiano.

Schiano is coming from the college ranks, which might be a good thing considering the Bucs are one of the youngest teams in the league. He takes over a team with a lot of unrealized talent and a quarterback situation that needs to continue to improve.

Also, Schiano missed a Thursday morning recruiting visit (according to Rivals) and Joe Paterno’s Wednesday funeral (according to the Star-Ledger) because of the job opportunity. This is more evidence than we had during the Chip Kelly episode, to be sure.

For more on the Bucs decision, visit SB Nation’s Bucs blog, Bucs Nation. And for a Rutgers perspective, visit On The Banks.

With the current amount of head coaching vacancies in the NFL, it should come as no surprise that front offices will be targeting any and all top college football coaches.

For more on the Bucs decision, visit SB Nation’s Bucs blog, Bucs Nation. And for a Rutgers perspective, visit On The Banks.

Schiano’s rise to the Bucs head coaching job seemingly came out of nowhere as he wasn’t one of the numerous Bucs head coaching candidates who were made public. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Bucs have been on Schiano’s radar from the start.

For more on the Bucs decision, visit SB Nation’s Bucs blog, Bucs Nation. And for a Rutgers perspective, visit On The Banks.

The Bucs job became available shortly after the season when they fired Raheem Morris.

Schiano, the Rutgers football coach, wasn’t on anyone’s radar until Thursday morning when a Tampa radio report indicated he could be a candidate. It’s no surprise that the talks between the two sides were so quiet because, if they could not strike a deal, Schiano still had recruits to worry about and didn’t need his name floating around a job he wasn’t going to take.

While Chip Kelly may now be out of the running, it seems as though the list of candidates for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching position is not getting any shorter. One of the names back in the mix is that of Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski.

According to Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer, the buzz is that Chudzinski will receive a second interview with the Buccaneers for the head coaching position. Chudzinski is currently in Mobile with the rest of the Panthers coaching staff but Panthers head coach Ron Rivera indicated he would like some resolution on the situation.

Sherman is the first candidate Stroud has confirmed will be invited for a second interview after Kelly’s change of heart. He will likely have a follow-up interview with Bucs general manager Mark Dominik in Tampa sometime this week, and previously interviewed for the position on January 4.

For more on Mike Sherman and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching search, visit SB Nation’s Bucs blog Bucs Nation.

Days away from college football’s national signing day, when high school players can officially begin signing up to play for college teams, Kelly’s got some clarifying to do on just how committed he is to Oregon for the near future. Unless he can convince the public he’s no longer interested in a NFL job (despite multiple reports that he’s had it with all the non-football responsibilities entailed in working a college job), he’ll have one issue to overcome in future recruiting (not to mention this year’s recruiting).

Here’s Kelly:

That came just a few hours after a Portland TV station declared Kelly and the Bucs were deep in talks. Within an hour, the report was matched from the other side of the country, as the St. Petersburg Times added detail. The Oregon side was already reporting Boise State’s Chris Petersen and TCU’s Gary Patterson as likely replacement candidates.

News then came out that Kelly had missed his Sunday night recruiting visits, and very early Monday morning the R-G reported Kelly was gone before reporting an hour later that he’d changed his mind. The Bucs confirmed later on, and that was that.

The rumors that Kelly was close to a deal with Tampa Bay were apparently true, but the Bucs general manager told the Tampa Bay Times on Monday morning that Kelly is no longer a candidate after he turned them down due to a love for college football.

According to the report from the Times, Dominik delayed his plans on traveling to the Senior Bowl on Monday as he closed in on a deal with Kelly. Once the news broke on Sunday night, though, the newspaper reports that “Kelly reversed course and told the Bucs he was remaining at Oregon.”

Chip Kelly has reportedly reversed course abruptly, turning down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to stay at Oregon, this according to Adam Jude of the Oregon Register-Guard. Kelly had reportedly agreed to terms with the Buccaneers to become the team’s next head coach -- reported by Jude and confirmed by CBSSports.com -- before the sudden change of heart.

Here’s what Jude had to say in a quick blog post detailing the events of the night.

Chip Kelly has agreed to terms with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and will be announced as the team’s next head coach, according to a report from the Register-Guard’s Adam Jude. Citing an athletic department source, Jude is reporting the deal is done, though nothing has been announced by the Buccaneers.

Rumors of Kelly’s departure for Tampa Bay began to swirl on Sunday evening, spurred on by a report from KGW in Portland. From there, the rumors snowballed, with the Tampa Bay Times confirming that Kelly and the Bucs were close to finalizing a deal. As the night wore on, more reports continued to trickle in, each indicating Kelly was NFL-bound, barring a last-minute snag.

This is all contingent on Kelly even leaving for the Bucs in the first place, which still seems like a longer shot than reports suggest.

Check out SB Nation’s Bucs Nation for more on the Bucs and visit Addicted To Quack for an Oregon perspective on all of this.

That’s a report from the Oregon area and one from the Tampa Bay area. It sounds like this is happening. Kelly has been linked to other NFL jobs but nothing that was very serious.

The St. Petersburg Times reports that Kelly met with the Glazer family, who owns the Bucs, and GM Mark Dominik earlier this week. The two are reportedly working on the terms of the deal and both hope to have it finished within 24-48 hours. Now that the news is out and Oregon recruits know, it’s hard to see the talks hitting a snag and Kelly staying in Oregon.

One Oregon beat writer says he’s heard the same rumors but they’re just that -- rumors. Peter King also floated the story to Tony Dungy, who has a son on Oregon’s team, and he didn’t know. It’s also important to note where we are in the recruiting cycle, with 10 days until high school seniors sign letters of intent.

(And, really, the Glazers are going to outbid Phil Knight?)

Tampa Bay is looking to replace Raheem Morris, who was fired along with his entire coaching staff the day after the season ended. Morris’ firing surprised no one. Tampa Bay finished 4-12 under Morris this season, losing their last ten games.

Philbin joined the Packers in 2003 as an assistant offensive line coach. It was his first NFL coaching job.

“I like it here. I love it here. You know we’ve had such a magical year and we’re going to keep it going so that’s my first choice,” Phillips said in comments distributed by the Texans. “You know I may not be their choice either, but I am gonna interview and you know take it from there. As far as distractions, they asked me two weeks ago, they asked permission to talk to me two weeks ago so we knew what was going on for two weeks, but we didn’t let it be a distraction the week before so it won’t be this week.”

For more on Wade Phillips and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching search, visit SB Nation’s Bucs blog Bucs Nation.

As SB Nation’s Bucs Nation points out, out of this group of candidates, only Zimmer and Gray have no previous head coaching experience in the NFL.

Sherman was recently fired as the head coach of Texas A&M after going just 25-25 in four seasons, including a losing record in the Big 12. Prior to that, Sherman was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2000-2005, making the playoffs four times, but winning just two games in those appearances. He left Green Bay in 2005 after a 4-12 season.

For more on Mike Sherman and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching search, visit SB Nation’s Bucs blog Bucs Nation.