Ron Cooper Discounts His Coaching Influence
February 7th, 2013Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
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It’s pretty darn clear that beleaguered former Bucs secondary coach Ron Cooper, now the University of South Florida assistant head coach, wasn’t a big fan of his first NFL experience and is ecstatic to back in the college ranks.
Cooper sat down yesterday with “Gary and The Commish, on 98.7 FM, and when asked about his Buccaneers experience, Cooper never once thanked the organization, mentioned Greg Schiano or any other coaches, and remarked about limited time to teach in OTAs.
Asked about coaching the Bucs secondary, Cooper talked a lot about injuries and absences, and praised opposing quarterbacks.
“That’s league’s what I call different,” Cooper said of the NFL. “It isn’t as much coach-driven as it is player-driven. You know, the players are the ones that have to execute. The players are the ones that have to do it all. You know, a lot of times that people put it and say, ‘It’s coaching. It’s coaching. It’s coaching.’ But, you know, there are good quarterbacks, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan. I mean they’re good quarterbacks. The difference probably in professional football is that every week, not every week, but out of the 16 games you’re going to have 12 guys, including the guy at Oakland, that can make every throw.”
Cooper went on to say it was a challenge to have new players coming on the roster during the season.
Weeks ago, Joe reported that privately Cooper was frustrated by Schiano demanding the secondary be coached Schiano’s way when it came to drills and other methods.
Regardless, it’s clear Cooper wasn’t a good fit for the Bucs or the NFL. Joe wishes Cooper well. (You can listen to the complete interview below.)
February 7th, 2013 at 12:08 pm
making excuses…no wonder this guy is gone
February 7th, 2013 at 12:11 pm
With an attitude like that I doubt it if this guy ever sees the NFL again…..you know what, the hell with it. He will never see an NFL field as a coach again. Any GM that would consider him as a candidate, will see this and immediately cross his name off the list.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:20 pm
With an attitude like that, it’s no wonder we had one of the worst secondaries in the history of the NFL… I agree, he will probably never see an NFL coaching gig again…
February 7th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Way to try and cover your bum, coach. Geez! Good riddance.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:40 pm
What a coach. “It’s not me, it’s you. I mean, they are good, and I am good, but you suck.”
As far as Mr.Cooper is concerned, if every student in class fails, somehow the fault lies on the students not the clearly inept teacher. I would hate to go to that school. Luckily for the Bucs they don’t have to go any longer.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Joe I would really love to see the Bucs shore up the safety position through free agency. I would love to see Pat Chung, Jarius Byrd, or Laron Landry back there roaming next to Mark Barron, with Ahmad Black developing behind them. Our secondary needs help NOW, not someone we draft who will develop in a few years.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
So our secondary isn’t void of talent? Well okay then. Say what you will about Cooper, but what is said was pretty accurate. Good coaching is good coaching, but schemes mean nothing if you don’t have the talent to make a system work and Gorrer is definitely not talent of any kind.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Good/great comments till the last two. ^
Glad he is gone. Just feel sorry for the kids at USF.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Eric Wright, EJ Biggers, Anthony Gaitor, Danny Gorrer, Lequan Lewis at corner. Nothing else needs to be said Coach.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:21 pm
After hearing his coaching attitude, talent was only a fraction of our secondary problems.
I can hear him now;
Ok boys…er eh..men get out there and don’t worry about the effort, cause remember, these QBs are the best of the best and won’t miss any throws.
February 7th, 2013 at 1:53 pm
The 2 real culprits for the Bucs secondary collapse is, Aqib Talib, and Eric Wright. Blaming the new guys that were pulled off other teams practice squads, in the last minute, is not really fair. Especially, when most guys were suited for the nickel corner role and were thrust into the man to man corner roles. Our last game we realized our defense played better in a zone defense because of all the nickel corners.
Our 2 star cover guys destroyed the Bucs chances to win. When your undrafted rookie CB Leonard Johnson out-played both of them combined, leaves a sweet and sour taste in my mouth. I don’t trust Wright, even if the Bucs retain him at a lower salary.
It’s to bad. Talib and Wright may have ruined Coopers chances to be in the NFL again, but not because of the NFL, but rather from his own terrible experience. Good luck Cooper …keep trying!
February 7th, 2013 at 2:04 pm
interesting. i would be more likely to call the college game “player driven”, or perhaps talent-driven. there is almost always a clearly more talented team in college football, and that team almost always wins. in the NFL there is a narrower spectrum of talent, individual drive, effective coaching, and diligent game planning are what pay off. this is why so many college coaches of premier programs fail in the NFL – the heavy lifting is over after the recruits arrive, and there’s not much to do but let the kids line up and play until bowl season approaches. the coaches at the non-marquee programs (stanford, rutgers, syracuse) are the ones who have to coach players up and work hard on a gameplan and are more prepared for the NFL
February 7th, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Cooper has quite the Defeatest Attitude. It sounds like he gave up before the season even started.
Good God Man, where’s your balls? You are lucky to have made it to the NFL, at least fight to stay there. It has a lot to do with motivating people and leading them, not just coaching, teaching or giving pointers. This guy obviously has limited communication skills, and was exposed last season. I think USF made a big mistake here and they must have been desperate when they made this choice. I’m very surprised Les Miles stuck with Cooper and even more surprised Schiano didn’t replace him early on last season.
February 7th, 2013 at 2:25 pm
At least this is one major problem out of the way, in the weakest aspect of their play.
February 7th, 2013 at 2:28 pm
Pick6, don’t simplify their job. Big program coaches have to coach just as much as any other coach. You forget that most of their players will only ever be college players. So you have to prepare them and your 5/4star recruits to do their jobs, whether its against a small school or an Alabama. Not to mention if your stars aren’t properly prepared for the pros, your future recruits will go elsewhere. All of that is without college athlete shenanigans.
@Ladyz
Don’t disregard peoples comments just because they don’t fall in line. The bottom line is our secondary needs more talent and no amount of coaching fixes during the season.
February 7th, 2013 at 2:34 pm
There is some truth to what his said. He can coach till he is blue in the face but if the players dont listen to his coaching then there is not much he can do to fix it. At the same time though, he does sound like he was in way over his head.
February 7th, 2013 at 7:48 pm
Will someone question the head coach, he hired coach Cooper. How can a coach who had nothing to work with become the fall guy. This team increased the payroll and saw nothing in return in the win column. do not single out coach Cooper, why do you think other coaches have left. this coach has yet to take blame for the worst defense in the history of the N.F.L.
February 7th, 2013 at 7:54 pm
truth:
Joe can answer that very easily.
Name a corner who improved over the course of the season. Joe’s not talking Pro Bowl level, just improved, even a little, from Game 1 through Game 16.
Leonard Johnson. MAY-bee.
A decent coach can take a bunch of stiffs and actually get them to play just a hair better over the course of four months. You know, it’s called “coaching.”
Remember, when the Bucs coughed up over 500 yards to Eli Manning, both Adderall twins were on the field, not the castoffs that Dominik pulled off the street in December.
February 7th, 2013 at 8:19 pm
Joe, you may be right however the last two years both defense had one thing in common a rock star G.M
February 7th, 2013 at 8:24 pm
Name me one coach that could have worked with this defense backfield. this defense added more defense player’s and got worst as a defense.,it’s call coaching from a head position.
February 7th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
I completely agree with Cooper cause anything he said is true. Anyone who feels he is wrong is borderline idiotic. This man was given players off the street and was told to make them “Revis-esqe” so they could hold their own on a island for 4+ seconds as Schiano repeatedly sent blitzes with little to no safety help.
@Joe
Stop the ‘well Tampa had Talib and Wright in NY’ speech. Yes they were there but don’t blame it on Cooper when the gameplan calls for numerous blitzes of a SB winning QB. Though both a good they are far from Revis/Champ.
February 7th, 2013 at 10:21 pm
Buc’It:
The Bucs came a handful of yards for setting a 97-year record for worst pass defense. Who ya’ gonna blame, the offensive line coach?
You can’t claim Cooper had garbage to work with when the Adderall Twins were getting blowtorched to a crisp.
February 8th, 2013 at 10:01 am
truth
“This team increased the payroll and saw nothing in return in the win column.”
Really? Uh.. we had 3 more wins than in 2011. Last time I checked, increasing wins is considered an improvement.
“do not single out coach Cooper”
Really? It was the only part of our defense with no improvement! So, why not the guy in charge of them?
“this coach has yet to take blame for the worst defense in the history of the N.F.L.”
I know…Raheem should man up and take that blame! Afterall, his defense was the worse!!
“this defense added more defense player’s and got worst as a defense”
Really? Again, this years defense is more improved/better than 2011. Rankings in 2011 points 32nd, yards 30th.
Rankings in 2012 points 23rd(the important stat), yards 29th(from that crappy secondary). BTW we were #1 in rush defense!