Bucs, Sherman Talk for Second Time

TAMPA — As the minutes on the tolerance clock peel away for Bucs fans, the Glazers and GM Mark Dominik seem to be nearing closer to a deal with their guy.

After the embarrassing rejection of them by Chip kelly this Monday, Tampa Bay has found itself in an awkward situation: they are realizing they have no one who wants to coach this team.

After the sobering events of Kelly-gate the Bucs have come to the realization that they aren’t a sexy location for coaches to want to come. This means they need to actually try to hire a coach rather then float by on the basis that they’re an NFL franchise and people will come. They seem to be going hard after their second choice for head coach and that man is former Packers head coach Mike Sherman.

The Bucs have already interviewed Sherman as he was one of the first guys they dialed when they started their coaching search almost a month ago.

Tampa is now calling him back in for a second interview today.

Sherman has been on the Bucs radar from the start given his success in Green Bay where he won three NFC North division titles with a little guy named Brett Favre as his quarterback.

A quick footnote: two of the Buccaneers coaching candidates both had their careers hit highs thanks to Favre, a guy Tampa was close to getting in 2009.

But back to Sherman. He’s not a flashy name and he’s not going to cause a sensation that pulses through Tampa causing an instant

revitalization of Buccaneers football but the question is will he get the job done?

Beyond flashy names and instant success the bottom line is will the next head coach of the Buccaneers be a success when his time at the position is over. The Bucs hit two balls out of the park with Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden as their previous two coaches before Raheem Morris.

But even Dungy and Gruden were just one end of the coaching spectrum. Dungy was a winning coach who dragged Tampa out of the dumps and made them competitive over the course of his tenure. But Dungy wasn’t viewed as a total success because he never won a Super Bowl. Gruden on the other hand won right away, in fact he won the Bucs only Super Bowl in his first season in Tampa. But it was a wobbly ride from there that ended with his career in Tampa eerily mirroring the collapse of Raheem Morris’ career.

The debate of whether Dungy would have won a Super Bowl or not had he stayed on for the 2002 season is irrelevant as is the stance of those who say Gruden only won with Dungy’s players. Those two coaching transitions were fused with success. This coach, whoever he is, will take over a team in flux, a team that is still young and unaccomplished.

Sherman is looking like that guy and when all is said and done the question won’t be about how big his name was when he took over the job, it will be how big of a success was he?