I have to admit I was a little surprised to learn that the Gruden/Allen era came to an end on Friday, but was happy I was at work when I heard it. My immediate reaction was laughing and jumping for joy, but as I let it settle in I tried to put things into perspective. When Gruden first arrived in Tampa I was as excited as anyone else with the thought that he would be bringing his high powered offense to the Bucs. Matching that offense with the defense we had in place, I thought we were looking at least one Super Bowl victory, but had thoughts of a couple in my head.
After winning the Super Bowl in his first season with the team I couldn’t have been happier. Since then the team has been up and down and things have slowly gone downhill. All of the excuses we’ve heard made for Gruden are partially true. The injuries, salary cap, draft picks and what not, but it all comes down to the fact that the team has no direction. The spats with players, the lack of major free agents being brought in and the botched draft picks sealed Gruden’s fate.
I think this is the best thing that could’ve happened for the Bucs and Jon Gruden. Gruden will get another job and, if he learns from his mistakes here, will do a much better job than he did here. I have not been a fan of Gruden’s for many reasons, but he’s very young by coaching standards and has a long time left to re-establish himself in the NFL. Jon will most likely take the ’09 season off and jump back into the ranks the following year. He should work with kids in his time off so he can learn some patience with younger players, QB’s namely, as that is the biggest knock on him there is.
One thing directed at Jon Gruden directly here. Please Jon, DO NOT BECOME A COLLEGE COACH! You are an NFL coach and do not need to torture teenagers and their parents at the college level. I am a lifelong Notre Dame fan (stop laughing!) and have heard the rumors over and over again about Gruden coaching Notre Dame. While I think he would be one of the best on-field coaches Notre Dame could employ, I don’t want to see him cussing out any kids on the sideline in college.
Moving on to Bruce Allen now. I’m glad he’s gone and think he needs to choose a new career path. Allen seemed to bring this area nothing but trouble and mediocrity. He was touted as a capologist and the team is well under the cap, but it’s easy to stay under the cap when you don’t sign any big name free agents or refuse to negotiate with current players when they deserve it. If Gruden gets away from this guy his coaching career will improve because of it. Good riddance to Bruce Allen.
Knowing now that Raheem Morris and Mark Dominik have replaced Gruden and Allen I’m excited at the thought of the team going in a new direction. I think that this will be a good move. Morris seems to carry much respect from the players and coaches and looks like he will be a good figure at the top. We all need to see his decision making on the field still so I’ll reserve judgement on him til then.
In capping this whole thing off I would like to re-state something I’ve said in the past. The Super Bowl we won here is Gruden’s, not Dungy’s. Jon Gruden won that Super Bowl and did something Tony Dungy didn’t here, so beg all of you out there that continue to say “it was Dungy’s team” to stop it. Give the man his credit. You all know that I’m no fan of Jon Gruden, but I give the man his due. He’s a Super Bowl winning coach and he will not be out of work for too long. I wish him the best of luck and hope he has learned from his missteps here and takes the next step in making his career a successful one. I won’t miss Gruden, but I’m happy with the Championship he brought to us.
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