The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Should Fire Greg Schiano

Oct 13, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano reacts on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Raymond James Stadium. The Eagles won 31-20. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

(Editor’s note: This article is partially inspired by Sander Philipse of BucsNation, who got to this sort of article first. I want to acknowledge that, and link you to his work to read it as well.)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers should fire Greg Schiano, and they should do it as soon as possible. They should name Mike Sullivan or Dave Wannstedt as interim head coach and work on finding young players for the future over the remainder of the regular season.

Here are some quick-hitting thoughts as to why Schiano should be fired.

• He doesn’t put his players in the best position to succeed. I wrote about this previously.
• The team has returned to the laughing stock he believed he was brought in to fix. He isn’t living up to his own standard which he set for himself.
• The team isn’t responding to his discipline on the field, as JoeBucsFan wrote here.
• The team is far too talented to be 0-5, with three very winnable games on the schedule so far (Philadelphia, Arizona, and New York are winnable games for this roster).
• There are no excuses for being 1-10 in the last 11 games. Compare the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The records are the same, but the rosters are much different. A Jacksonville fan will admit they’re rebuilding. The Bucs are not rebuilding.

Here are some reasons why Schiano should be fired now, rather than waiting until the end of the season:

• Send a message to the team that this level of performance is not acceptable. No one is safe. If you fail to do your job, you’re out the door.
• Send a message to the fans that you’re committed to regaining their trust. The fanbase has largely given up on Schiano, with some exceptions who support him to this day.
• Admit that he’s a mistake, and give yourself time to plan ahead and find a new coach. Rather than firing him after the season, start doing background checks and “scouting” new coaches starting now, and do your homework.
• Give Schiano the chance to look at whatever college jobs open up after he’s let go. It’s the nice thing to do, right?

Schiano has done nothing to prove that he’s the future head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He lost his way late last year, and he’s been unable to reign it back in. He can’t blame anyone but himself, because he’s an authoritarian who runs the whole show. He cannot just let go of a player or a coach and pretend that fixes his issues, because he has control over everything at One Buc Place.

There’s nothing wrong with being “large and in charge.” But it stops working when your system isn’t getting results.

Weigh in with your thoughts in the poll below.