Bucs Coach Ignoring Cowher Chatter, Proceeding With Plan

TAMPA, Fla. -- Rewind to a week ago.

Raheem Morris stood at a podium, but he was atop the pewter and red world. His Tampa Bay Buccaneers not only had won a second straight road game, but had stormed back from a 17-point deficit to defeat the high-powered New Orleans Saints in overtime. After a dismal 1-12 start, everything Buc had suddenly turned beautiful and Morris, the NFL's youngest head coach at 33, hoped it was the start of something good. Something real.

"That's what I have to find out," Morris said Dec. 28. "That's what I have to ask my players: 'Are you hot or is this your game?' I'm hoping this is our game because I like the way we're going."

Back to present day.

And back to reality.

Morris was at the podium again Monday, but this time for his postmortem of one of the most abysmal seasons in Tampa Bay history (For those not well-schooled in Bucs lore, that's saying something). In his first season, Morris' team won three games, equaling the club's fewest in the past 23 years.

"Everybody will be evaluated," Morris said. "Been a rough year on all of us."

Sunday's 20-10 season-ending home loss to the Atlanta Falcons was bad for a lot of reasons, starting with Tampa Bay's 206 yards of total offense, only 38 on the ground. Maybe worse -- especially for ownership -- was seeing more than a third of Raymond James Stadium empty.

This is where the Glazer boys come in ... along with the Bill Cowher rumors, right?

Not so fast.

"I know one thing for certain: this team won't be the same next year. There are areas where we have to get better."
-- Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber Bucs co-chairs Joel and Bryan Glazer rarely meddle in the middle of a season, but they're kept informed on developments throughout the fall and, after each season, they want to know exactly where the club is headed.

Last year, in the wake of the Bucs' epic December collapse -- they were 9-3 and tied for the NFC's best record heading into the month, only to lose four straight to miss the playoffs -- everything seemed fairly normal in the days following the season. Coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen had their wrap-up news conferences. They talked about being disappointed in the season, but spoke of excitement about getting back to work in the offseason.

As is their custom, the Glazers huddled with their football brain trust to learn its vision of the future. Given the fallout from that meeting it's very possible the words "Brian" and "Griese" came up.

Gruden and Allen were fired 19 days after the season.

Enter Morris and first-time GM Mark Dominik.

Morris was promoted from his position as defensive coordinator, which he'd only been given less than a month before. So before he'd ever coordinated one play, he was head coaching. Whether the Glazers truly believed in Morris (he interviewed for the vacant Denver post, too) or made the move for financial reasons (the team still owed Gruden and Allen nearly $15 million on their contracts) was a matter of conjecture at the time. Dominik, 38, was a career personnel type, but had never been in charge of a front office.

A year later, the Glazers now must pinpoint the progress/promise of a 3-13 season low-lighted by the firing of both offensive and defensive coordinators; the former before the season even began, and the latter after an 0-7 start. Considering Glazer public appearances are rivaled in rarity by Punxsutawney Phil, we can only guess whether major changes are in order.

The roster, however, has to be upgraded; especially on defense.

"I know one thing for certain: this team won't be the same next year," veteran cornerback Ronde Barber said Sunday. "There are areas where we have to get better."

Given the 20,000 or so empty seats, the Glazers have to think one of those areas is making the community excited about the franchise again. The Bucs will get a great player with the No. 3 overall draft pick, but making a splashy move to the top of the board for Nebraska's beastly defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh will sell some tickets.

So would hiring Cowher.

But does he even want the job?

There have been reports the Bucs have reached out to Cowher; reports that he has met with officials in Buffalo; reports that he has started putting together a staff; and reports -- like one Monday -- that he intends to sit out 2010, maybe to wait for John Fox's contract to expire in Carolina (Could the original Bucs/Cowher report been put out by "The Chin" in hopes the Panthers would move to prevent him from joining a rival in the NFC South?).

It would probably take a $40 million to $50 million commitment to sign Cowher. The Glazers have never been afraid to ante up for a marquee coach -- remember the two first-rounders, two second-rounders and $8 million they gave the Raiders for Gruden (after the failed mega-bucks pitch to Bill Parcells, no less) -- but they'd still owe Gruden more than $9 million for the balance of his contract, plus another $4 million to Morris. There's also the matter of the uncertain labor negotiations between the NFL and its players union, with talk already of the very real possibility for a work stoppage in 2011. That would be a lot of money to pay three coaches not to coach.

Oh, and then there's the Glazers' financial stake across the pond to Manchester United. If you think they're secret about the Bucs, try finding out anything about their English soccer operations, bloke.
All of this makes for some sexy speculation, but don't bother trying to throw any of it in Morris' direction.

"You got to be kidding, man," he said.

Morris knows the Glazers fired Tony Dungy after three straight playoff seasons , and he watched Gruden get the ax after two straight 9-7 marks (For the record, the last 3-13 coach in Tampa was a one-year non-wonder named Richard Williamson in 1991). But until he's told otherwise, Morris will proceed with building a team around Josh Freeman, the quarterback and first-round draft pick who flashed some signs during his rookie season that he may indeed be the cornerstone QB the franchise has been searching for for decades.

"The priorities for me are No. 5," Morris said of his project. "He's everything."

Freeman, still just 21, gladly accepts that responsibility.

"But I also look at it as a blessing," said Freeman, who went 3-6 as a starter and set a rookie club record with 10 touchdown passes to go with 16 interceptions. "I have a head coach who has confidence in me."

Teammates, too.

"We know our identity now," center Jeff Faine said. "We drafted a quarterback to build around."

But who will do the building? For now, the assignment goes to a coach and GM tandem with a 3-13 resume. Optimistic Bucs fans who saw two encouraging victories in December might be OK with the sound of that.

But "Chin" music would play better.